Food fish
Caught and eaten around the world. 273 fish on EveryFish so far.
Fish is one of the main foods of humanity. The Food and Agriculture Organization reckons that aquatic foods provide about 15 per cent of the animal protein people eat worldwide, and much more in coastal and island countries and in places such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and West Africa. Thousands of fish species are eaten, but a few dozen, such as anchovies, pollock, tunas, herrings, carps and tilapia, make up most of the catch.
Fish in Indian kitchens
Most Indians eat fish at least sometimes, and in Bengal, Odisha, Assam, the North-East, Kerala, Goa and the Konkan, fish is at the centre of everyday meals. Bengalis prize rohu and hilsa cooked in mustard. Kerala cooks sardine, mackerel and pearlspot with coconut and kokum. Goans eat fish curry and rice daily, and Mumbai's Kolis fry bombil and pomfret. Dried and fermented fish are basic foods in the North-East and along the coasts.
From catch to plate
Fish spoils quickly, so ice, cold chains, canning, freezing, drying, salting and smoking shape how it reaches people. A large share of the world's catch of small fish such as anchovies is turned into fish meal and oil for farmed fish and animals rather than eaten directly. Large predatory fish such as some tunas and swordfish can build up mercury, so health agencies give advice on how often to eat them. EveryFish describes these uses as practice and tradition, not health advice.
Famous food fish fish
Still to be written: Atlantic cod, Ilish, Skipjack tuna, Alaska pollock, Peruvian anchoveta, Indian mackerel, Atlantic herring.
Further reading
WorldBasking shark
The second-largest living fish, a slow-moving filter feeder found in temperate oceans worldwide.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1765
WorldChimaeras
Cartilaginous deep-sea fish with cartilage skeletons and unique tooth plates.Shark · Open ocean
WorldMako shark
Fast predatory sharks of the genus Isurus, known for their speed and blue-grey colour.Shark · Open ocean
WorldHammerhead shark
Sharks with T-shaped heads for better vision and sensing prey.Shark · Coasts and shelves
WorldBroadnose sevengill shark
A large coastal shark with seven gill slits and spotted skin.Shark · Coasts and shelves
WorldSpinner shark
A fast requiem shark known for spinning leaps out of water.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1839
WorldBramble shark
A deep-sea shark with thorn-like skin scales.Shark · Open ocean · 1788
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Rohu: Wiki Farazi, CC0, source
- Basking shark: Greg Skomal / NOAA Fisheries Service, Public domain, source
- Chimaeras: Linda Snook / MBNMS, Public domain, source
- Mako shark: NOAA Observer Program, Public domain, source
- Hammerhead shark: suneko, CC BY 2.0, source
- Broadnose sevengill shark: José María Pérez Nuñez, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Spinner shark: Jean-Lou Justine, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bramble shark: Unknown author, Public domain, source