News
SpeciesScientists Discover Mysterious New Fish in the Red Sea – and Have Never Seen It AgainOceanEye to eye with Britain's hidden sharks at SharkAdemy - OceanographicRiversIn October, biologists surveying a New York harbor for invasive fish pulled up a bright yellow one. It wasn't an invasive species at allOceanShedd Aquarium Sends Shark Eggs to Bolster Wild PopulationsSpeciesA rare fish has been found in Lake Ontario, North America, whose entire body is golden. It is a nati..OceanThe Great Sea Reef Is Fiji’s Wildest Dive, and a New Frontier for ConservationOceanEckerd College professor contributes to designating Biscayne Bay an Important Shark and Ray AreaSpeciesRio Verde Grande Survey Identifies Fifty-Three Fish Species Facing Flow ReductionsFisheriesAdams River Salmon Run in Thompson-NicolaIndiaHilsa production dropped 26% in five years, fisheries minister tells parliamentSpeciesScientists Discover Mysterious New Fish in the Red Sea – and Have Never Seen It AgainOceanEye to eye with Britain's hidden sharks at SharkAdemy - OceanographicRiversIn October, biologists surveying a New York harbor for invasive fish pulled up a bright yellow one. It wasn't an invasive species at allOceanShedd Aquarium Sends Shark Eggs to Bolster Wild PopulationsSpeciesA rare fish has been found in Lake Ontario, North America, whose entire body is golden. It is a nati..OceanThe Great Sea Reef Is Fiji’s Wildest Dive, and a New Frontier for ConservationOceanEckerd College professor contributes to designating Biscayne Bay an Important Shark and Ray AreaSpeciesRio Verde Grande Survey Identifies Fifty-Three Fish Species Facing Flow ReductionsFisheriesAdams River Salmon Run in Thompson-NicolaIndiaHilsa production dropped 26% in five years, fisheries minister tells parliament
EveryFish

Fish market, India

Gariahat market, Kolkata

A busy south Kolkata bazaar whose fish stalls show the full range of Bengali fish, from hilsa and rohu to pabda and koi.

Gariahat, in the Ballygunge area of south Kolkata, is known for its shopping streets and for a market where fish stalls are piled with the fish of Bengal. Sellers sit on raised platforms with their fish on wet slabs, cutting rohu and catla into steaks with a curved blade called a boti. A morning visit shows how much fish means to Bengali food and life.

The fish of a Bengali kitchen

Rohu and catla are the daily fish. Ilish is the fish of the monsoon, cooked in mustard. Small fish such as pabda, tangra and mourala are prized for their taste. Air-breathing fish such as koi, the climbing perch, singhi and magur are kept alive in tubs of water and are valued as light food for the sick, by tradition. Chital, bhetki, parshe and tiger prawns complete the display.

Fish in ritual

Fish marks many Bengali occasions. A whole rohu, dressed with vermilion and turmeric, is sent from the groom's family to the bride's before a wedding. At Jamai Sasthi, sons-in-law are fed hilsa and other fish. Followers of the football clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan tease each other with hilsa and prawns, the fish linked to East Bengali and West Bengali families. Fish and rice, maachh-bhaat, is shorthand for being Bengali.

Fish of Gariahat market, Kolkata

RohuThe daily fish, and the wedding fish

Still to be written: Ilish, Ompok pabda, Anabas testudineus, Heteropneustes fossilis, Clarias magur, Chitala chitala.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: the fish of the day, new pages on EveryFish, and the conferences and anniversaries of the week ahead.