It is a protandrous hermaphrodite in which the fish reach sexual maturity as males at around 2 years old and change into females when they are older.

Once they have reached the juvenile stage, its diet includes sardines, anchovies, and shrimp, as well as any other small fishes and crustaceous.

The eggs of this species are pelagic, spherical, colorless, and measure about 1.34mm to 1.44mm in diameter with a single oil globule.

[6] Juveniles are dispersed and transported kilometers away from the spawning grounds into coastal areas and river estuaries by tidal currents during late winter or early spring.

[4] Most of the early juveniles migrate to the upriver turbidity maximum zone (TMZ) which is known as an area of high prey concentration in estuaries.

[7] Lateolabrax maculatus has been treated as a junior synonym of L. japonicus but more recent authorities have treated it as a valid species with a wide distribution in the Ariake Sea and off Nagasaki in Japan; off the Chinese coast, Taiwan, and Korea, normally off the southern and western coasts.