Most food goes by various names. For example, the domestic pigeon is known scientifically as Columba livia. In the US, we call its meat squab, while the French call it pigeonneau and the Spanish pichón. But that all seems pretty comprehensible compared to fish. Some fish are known by literally dozens of names, with their foreign translations bearing no resemblance to or sharing no root with one another. Worse, a single name might refer to dozens of specifies (and even different families) of fish!
This article attempts to document the various names for common culinary fish. I start by giving the common (or at least my preferred) name for the fish, followed by its scientific name, and then a catalogue of the various names and confusions surrounding the animal. With luck, we will all be better consumers of this most delicious food.
In the realm of confusingly-named fish, the worst offender is the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). This fish is known as loup de mer (or simply loup), from the French word for wolf, as the fish is a carnivore. Along the Mediterranean, loup is the fish's most common name. But along France's Atlantic coast, the fish is called bar. Both regions claim that their variant is superior, although the two fish are in fact the same species. In the US, we also call this fish bronzini, from the Italian branzini. In Southern Italy, however, they call the fish spigola or ragno. In Spain, they call it lubina or róbalo. Other names include sea dace, loubine (French for a small loup), Mediterranean seabass, and simply sea bass, although more and more that final term is reserved for Chilean sea bass.
Chilean sea bass (Dissostichus eleginoides) is in fact not related to the sea bass at all, but is a marketer's name for the Patagonian toothfish. The fish is sold as merluza negra in Spain (confusingly, black hake) and mero in Japan. The fish is listed by SeafoodWatch as a fish that conscientious eaters should avoid, but I find it delicious. On menus in the US, sea bass is generally Patagonian toothfish.
Black sea bass (Centropristis striata) is in fact a species of grouper.
Striped bass (Morone saxatilis) is yet another species of fish called bass. It is also known as Atlantic striped bass and rockfish.
Conversely, Asian sea bass (Lates calcarifer), of yet another family of fish, is called Barramundi.
To compound the confusion, in non-culinary uses in the US, the term bass is most often describing the freshwater gamefish, not the marine fish. Popular game variants of freshwater bass include the largemouth and smallmouth bass. Although edible, they are not caught for their flesh and are generally released.
Many varieties of fish go by the name tuna (various species in the genus Thunnus). They are generally labeled tuna, although some preparations, such as tuna belly (toro) and fatty belly (otoro) go solely by those names when prepared as sushi. Common varieties of tuna include albacore (the stuff in cans), bluefin (in both giant and pacific variants), skipjack (also called aku), and yellowfin (also called ahi).
Cod (Gadidae gadus), that ubiquitous yet delicious white fish, usually keeps to one name. A rare exception is scrod, which refers to a young cod of approximately less than three pounds—generally small enough that its fillets fit in a single pan. (Sometimes scrod refers to any small white fish, such as a small haddock, but such usage is generally regarded as erroneous.)
While cod is usually called cod, there are other cods that are not cod: black cod, blue cod, rock cod, and trout cod are all not members of the Gadidae family.
Once dried and salted, cod's easy naming goes out the window. In the US we generally shorten it to salt cod, but as the food staple integral to Western Europe's expansion, dried and salted cod has many common names, including bacalao, baccalà, klippfisk, morue, and saltfish. Cod that is dried but not salted is called stockfish.
Salmon (several species in the family Salmonidae), perhaps surprisingly, goes by simply salmon, at least in the US. There are, however, several species of salmon, and often the fish goes by those names: Atlantic (also known as black), chinook (blackmouth or king), pink (humpies), and sockeye (red).
Convenient naming goes out the window as soon as salmon is cured. Gravlax or gravad lax is salmon cured in salt flavored with dill. Lox, common adorning bagels in Ashkenazic Jewish cuisine, is salmon that is brined in sugar and salt. Nova Scotia salmon, Nova, or Nova lox is cured in a milder brine and then cold-smoked. Scotch or Scottish salmon is cured with a more aggressive spice rub and then cold-smoked. Salmon smoked without an initial cure is conveniently called simply smoked salmon, although often such a preparation is listed as just salmon. Serving smoked salmon without labeling it as smoked should be a crime.
Yellowtail (Seriola quinqueradiata) is also known as Japanese amberjack. When prepared as sushi, it is called hamachi.
Mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) is a fish whose popularity I have never understood. It is also known as dolphin (the fish not the mammal) and dorado.
Monkfish (several species in the genus Lophius) is as delicious as it is ugly, with firm, meaty, almost lobster-like flesh. It is also known as goosefish, headfish, and, after the Spanish name, rape. The French sometimes call it gigot de mer, or sea leg, because they are making some ridiculous connection to the leg of a lamb. At the market you will often see monkfish sold as monkfish tail—this is in fact the entire fish, beheaded, as the head is hideous.
Atlantic pollack (Pollachius pollachius), the white fish that tastes more like an oily fish, is also spelled pollock. We most commonly eat one of two varieties: Black pollack and Yellow pollack (also called colin). The French call this fish lieu jaune.
Alaskan pollack (Theragra chalcogramma) is also known as walleye pollock. It is of a different family entirely than the Atlantic variety, although the meat is similar in taste, albeit milder. Alaskan pollack is the most common fish used to make imitation crab, which is also called crab stick or krab.
Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) is also known as offshore hake. The French call it aigrefin. When fried, this fish is sometimes misrepresented as cod or vice versa.
Sea bream (many species in the family Sparidae) are also known as porgies and simply breams. The three most delectable species are the royal, rose (or blackspot), and gray (or black) sea bream. In the US, we call these three species dorade (not to be confused with dorado). The French, to annoy the rest of the world, call the latter two by that same word, but reserve the pompous spelling daurade for the first, the daurade royale.
The most excellent sole generally goes by that correct name, both in fish markets and restaurants. There are, however, several varieties of sole, including the lemon sole, which is of a different (and inferior) variety to the heralded Atlantic sole. Dover sole (Solea solea), also known as common sole, is a specific variety of Atlantic sole and the best. Unfortunately, the lesser (although good) Pacific sole (Microstomus pacificus) is often mislabeled Dover sole on the US's west coast. Sole meunière is a dish, of sole pan-fried in butter, not a variety of the fish (the dish is ideally made with dover sole).
Red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) is a delicious, mild white fish endemic to the Gulf of Mexico, the Southern Atlantic, and the Caribbean Sea. Fortunately, the fish is generally correctly labeled as red snapper. Unfortunately, many other fish are incorrectly labeled the same, including both related fish in the same family and unrelated fish such as Sebastes miniatus and Sebastes ruberrimus.
Hake (Gadiformes merlucciidae) is generally correctly referred to as hake, although that term unfortunately can also refer to a related but distinct fish in the Phycinae subfamily of Gadiformes gadidae. Hake are sometimes referred to by their Spanish name, merluza. Similar to cod, they are an excellent white fish, particularly the Mediterranean varieties prized in Spain.
Halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus and stenolepis) is always correctly labeled as halibut. Unfortunately, several other fish are occasionally incorrectly labeled the same: the California flounder (Paralichthys californicus) as California halibut and the olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) as Bastard halibut.
John Dory (Zeus faber), an excellent fish, is also known as Saint Pierre, after Saint Peter.
Turbot (Psetta maxima) is perhaps the greatest fish. Thankfully almost always called turbot in the US, it is unfortunately mispronounced: TUR-bət not TUR-bo.
Trout, an oily freshwater and marine fish eaten less and less as pollution infects the world's rivers and lakes, is generally correctly labeled as trout. Unfortunately, there are many fish recognized as trout, spanning three genus: Oncorhynchus, Salmo, and Salvelinus. As the taste of these fish vary greatly—both a function of the genus and the diet of the fish—the term trout is a poor indicator of what you are about to eat. Trust the chef or order something else.
Pike (Esocidae esox) is a freshwater fish native to both North America and Europe. It is also known as esox and pike-fish. Confusingly, the term pickerel is used to refer to both young pike and several species of Esocidae that are smaller than the standard pike. In game, the two terms are interchangeable; on a menu the term pickerel generally refers to the smaller species. The fish pikeminnow (also known as squawfish) is unrelated.
…and, unfortunately, many more.
What am I missing? I wager there isn't a fish not known by a multitude of names, so please share your naming confusions. Most notably, freshwater and game fish often have dozens of names, due to regional naming differences and confusions over species. One of our few remaining wild foods, fish do not come with barcodes. They are caught, sold, and eaten in such large numbers that we are often not eating what we think we are. I'm fine with that, but I do wish we could pare back the plethora of names so I am at least ordering what I think I am, even if I am not receiving what I order.
