Japanese love the sweetfish, mainly due to the fact that they only graze on rock algae in the stream, a pure and clean diet which gives them a faint melon-like fragrance on their backfin, hence the name sweetfish. Sweetfish have thin scales, their bodies contain only algae and no impurities. The fish is caught and roasted whole in many tourism spots in Japan. The female has sweet and tasty roe, the male has internal organs with a distinctive bitterness, both are equally delicious.