It has recently come to my attention that there is a fish called a dolphin, and it is also known as mahi-mahi or dorado.
Why in the world would they name a fish the same name as a completely different animal?
In trying to decipher what was going on, I found several… ahem… interesting websites.
One claimed that it is related to the dolphin, but is not a mammal.
Many (including this one) claimed that is is a dolphin as compared to a porpoise.
Now, I’m pretty sure that (mammal) dolphins are distinct from porpoises, right? I’m guessing that because most of the sites were either about cooking or catching them, they weren’t interested in such distinctions.
You should know that there are two different mammals, one called a dolphin and one called a porpoise, which are closely related. I’ve often heard that you should call the mammal a porpoise since the fish is called a dolphin. This is not accurate for the above reason. But, I don’t know if this post serves any porpoise.
barbitu8, dolphins and porpoises are different families. There are many species of each. It would be pretty silly to just call them all the same thing.
So, auxilliary question: which came first, the naming of the fish or of the mammal? Maybe that’ll shed some light.
Desmostylus, I suppose, but none of those animals you listed above are also sea-dwellers and vaguely fish-shaped.
Mahi mahi is a pretty common fish served in local restaurants by me. Good stuff. Mahi-mahi is the Hawaiin word, dorado is the Spanish (Mexican) word. Reading about the fish from the cites, I have a guess. This fish is said to jump high out of the water, just like dolphins do, hence the dolphin fish.
I’ve personally seen dolphin/mahi-mahi jumping out of the water. Skimmed a few feet over the surface, sideways and on its back, for damn near 50 yards. Very impressive.
I’ve also seen dolphin/mammals jumping out of the water. The typical arched back, nose-first thing you see on the Discovery Channel.
Yeah, it is. “Dorado” means ‘golden’ in Spanish. Hence: ‘El Dorado’, the mystical city of gold. A lot of the Western states in the US have spanish names. “Colorado” means ‘colorful’, “Nevada” means ‘snowy’, and “California” means ‘hot as an oven’!