# Words to refer to edible water-dwelling creatures **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2016, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234 "2016-04-05T05:55:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/21 "2016-04-05T17:54:47Z")
> [@Abner\_Ravenwood](#): > > Non-mammalian protein-based lifeforms that use aquatic locomotion to propel themselves through a liquid medium. Trying to make that into a pronounceable acronym – NOMPOBLIFTUALTOPTSTALM ? : perhaps the Maori of New Zealand could handle it; but otherwise, don’t see it catching on. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/22 "2016-04-05T18:01:06Z")
Wet et. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/23 "2016-04-05T18:29:34Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Protein from the sea. What if it stops coming, on harvest day? Anyway…“Seaflesh”? “Seabeast”? “Seameat”? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/24 "2016-04-05T19:04:29Z")
> [@Abner\_Ravenwood](#): > > Non-mammalian protein-based lifeforms that use aquatic locomotion to propel themselves through a liquid medium. There’s another thread right here on the first page where various posters have been mentioning their experiences eating whale meat. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/25 "2016-04-05T19:42:53Z")
Vegetables ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/26 "2016-04-05T19:49:20Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Lobsters and shrimp swim. Crabs don’t exactly swim that I know of. Blue crabs swim pretty well. Stone crabs and king crabs not so much. Clams, mussels, and oysters don’t swim however, at least after they’ve settled. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/27 "2016-04-05T19:51:00Z")
Spanish uses the word _mariscos_, which tends to mean shellfish but can include all seafood. Interestingly, a live fish is a _pez_, but a fish on your plate is _pescado_ (literally, “fished”). ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/28 "2016-04-05T20:01:48Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Protein from the sea. Booxxxx…BOOOOOXXXXXX… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/29 "2016-04-05T20:05:56Z")
_Fruitti di mare_. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/30 "2016-04-05T20:07:31Z")
Shellfish, to me at least, means bivalves, shrimp, lobsters, and crabs. I don’t think I’d generally include octopus and squid, though if someone proclaimed a shellfish allergy, I would disclose their presence instead of trying to hide behind a technicality. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/31 "2016-04-05T21:10:21Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > _Fruitti di mare_. I was going to say “fruits de mer.” The French Wikipedia notes that it excludes fish though. “Aquanoms” ? ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/32 "2016-04-05T21:59:33Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Protein from the sea. > [@enipla](#): > > When I try to explain that I dislike the flavor of any type of fish, shellfish, shrimp, mollusk, clam, oyster or anything that lives in the water, I use the word ‘seafood’. > [@Ranchoth](#): > > Anyway…“Seaflesh”? “Seabeast”? “Seameat”? > [@Colibri](#): > > Spanish uses the word _mariscos_, which tends to mean shellfish but can include all seafood. > [@terentii](#): > > _Fruitti di mare_. As mentioned before – the seemingly exclusionary emphasis on the sea (I don’t know Spanish, but take it that _mariscos_ has “sea” {_mar_} connotations). I keep feeling – what about the poor neglected edible freshwater denizens? Unless it’s an understood thing that in culinary / gastronomic terms, “sea…” includes and embraces freshwater creatures as well… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/33 "2016-04-05T22:37:02Z")
Freshwater seafood, saltwater seafood. Freshwater fish/molluscs, saltwater fish/molluscs. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/34 "2016-04-06T01:37:19Z")
Freshwater seafood is still seafood. No, it doesn’t make sense. Nor does it make sense that seaweed isn’t considered seafood. But that’s the way the language works. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/35 "2016-04-06T03:08:14Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > Trying to make that into a pronounceable acronym – NOMPOBLIFTUALTOPTSTALM ? : perhaps the Maori of New Zealand could handle it; but otherwise, don’t see it catching on. There are no b,f,l,or s in the [Maori alphabet,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_language#Orthography)so they’ll be stumped too (and all syllables end in a vowel in Maori as well). I think pretty much anything edible from seas and rivers is included in the term kai moana (= ‘food from the sea’) in Maori anyway. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/36 "2016-04-06T03:28:16Z")
Sentient waterborne comestible ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/37 "2016-04-06T09:35:23Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > There are no b,f,l,or s in the [Maori alphabet,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_language#Orthography)so they’ll be stumped too (and all syllables end in a vowel in Maori as well). I think pretty much anything edible from seas and rivers is included in the term kai moana (= ‘food from the sea’) in Maori anyway. Ah, right – all the Maori I know is “kia-ora” (good health); and of the existence of that place with the astoundingly long name, beginning with T. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/38 "2016-04-08T23:09:55Z")
Just call it “dinner” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/39 "2016-04-11T13:24:28Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Sentient waterborne comestible Sentient?! Are you harpooning the most dangerous game? (Aquaman?) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234/40 "2016-04-11T14:57:00Z")
For me as an American, I would say the OP is correct that we lump all those under the general category “seafood,” regardless of whether it’s salt or freshwater creatures. (Besides, “sea” can be used in a more general sense.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-to-refer-to-edible-water-dwelling-creatures/751234.md?page=3)