Marine Fish: English Vocabulary List

a small shoaling fish that is used as food or as bait and resembles herrings

"I ate an anchovy pizza."

"The chef carefully placed a single anchovy on top of each slice of the freshly baked focaccia bread."

a small forage fish that is edible and lives in marine waters, forming large shoals

"Pilchards swim in huge schools close to the water surface."

"Pilchards are small oily fish that are often canned and sold as sardines in supermarkets."

a small oily fish of the herring family with silvery color that is used as food

"He ate a sardine on his cracker."

"The fisherman caught thousands of sardines in his net which were then canned and shipped worldwide."

‌a large sea fish with a pointed fin on its back and very sharp teeth

"The shark swims quickly."

"People were afraid of the shark when it came close."

any carnivorous warm water perciform fish that is red in color and is valued as food

"Snapper have sharp teeth and a distinctive sloping forehead."

"The red snapper is a popular food fish that lives on rocky reefs in warm ocean waters."

a very small forage fish that is a European marine fish of the herring family, eaten as food

"Sprats are small fish."

"The tiny sprat, a common European marine fish, is often caught in large numbers for consumption."

a large sea fish of the ray family that has a long toxic spine at the base of its tail

"The stingray has a spine."

"Divers must be cautious of the stingray, a large sea fish with a venomous spine on its tail."

a large food fish that lives in cold marine waters with a small barbel and three fins on the back

"Cod liver oil is rich in vitamins and omega fatty acids."

"Cod populations collapsed dramatically due to overfishing leading to strict fishing quotas and industry collapse."

a rare plump marine fish with lobed fins living in Indian Ocean, once thought to be extinct

"The coelacanth was thought extinct until fishermen caught one in 1938."

"The coelacanth was thought to be extinct for sixty five million years until it was rediscovered in nineteen thirty eight."

a small shark with a long body that lives at the bottom of the sea

"The dogfish swam away."

"The small dogfish navigated the sandy seabed, looking for crustaceans."

a small marine food fish of the flatfish species that is found in deep oceanic waters

"The flounder undergoes amazing changes as it matures."

"The flounder is born with one eye on each side but one eye migrates as it matures."

a group of marine fish that have the ability to glide above the water's surface by using their enlarged pectoral fins as wings

"The flying fish glided above the water to escape its predator."

"The flying fish glides above the water surface for up to two hundred meters to escape underwater predators."

a salt water food fish of the cod family with silvery gray color and a black line under its dorsal fins

"We ate baked haddock for dinner."

"The haddock is easily identified by the dark thumbprint like spot on each side of its body."

a large marine flatfish that is eaten as food, especially on Catholic holy days

"The halibut is a flat fish."

"The halibut is one of the largest flatfish species reaching lengths of over eight feet."

a mostly coastal fish of silvery color that moves in large shoals and is largely consumed as food

"Herring are caught in huge numbers for food and bait."

"Herring swim in enormous schools that can cover several square miles of ocean surface."

a migratory marine fish with greenish blue bars on its body which is a scombroid and is a commercially important game fish

"We grilled fresh mackerel for dinner."

"Mackerel swim in large schools near the ocean surface and are prized by commercial and recreational fishermen alike."

a very large marine fish that has a long body and a long bill inhabiting warm waters, which is caught for sport

"He caught a huge marlin."

"The fisherman fought the marlin for over three hours before finally reeling in the enormous one thousand pound fish."

a large migratory marine fish that has a very long pointed snout and is both a food and a game fish

"The grilled swordfish steak was delicious."

"The swordfish uses its long bill to slash through schools of fish making them easier to catch."

a large predatory eel with dark color that lives in shallow coastal waters and is eaten as food

"The conger eel was very long."

"The conger eel can grow up to ten feet long and hides in rocky crevices during daylight hours."

any tropical marine fish with no scale that fills with air in the face of threat and is highly poisonous

"The pufferfish inflated itself when it felt threatened."

"The pufferfish inflates its body by swallowing water when threatened making itself too large for predators to swallow."

a large perch-like fish that is originally from Australia, which migrates down rivers to the sea in order to spawn

"Barramundi live in both fresh and salt water at different life stages."

"The barramundi is a popular game fish that can live in both fresh and salt water."

a ray-finned fish of the salmon family that is used as food and migrates to freshwater streams in order to spawn

"Atlantic salmon return to the exact river where they were born."

"The Atlantic salmon returns from the ocean to spawn in the exact river where it was born."

a long and thin freshwater or marine fish that is like a snake, sometimes eaten as food

"The slippery eel escaped from the fisherman's hands."

"The electric eel can generate shocks of up to six hundred volts to stun prey and defend itself."

a coastal marine game fish with a wide olive-colored body and long dorsal fins

"John Dory is a type of fish."

"The John Dory has a distinctive dark spot on its side that is said to resemble Saint Peter's thumbprint."

important warm-water fatty fish of the genus Thunnus of the family Scombridae

"Tuna fish is good in sandwiches."

"Bluefin tuna are among the fastest fish in the ocean capable of bursts up to forty miles per hour."

an aggressive type of shark that lives in warm and shallow waters near coastlines

"A bull shark can swim in rivers."

"Bull sharks are dangerous because they can live in both salt and fresh water."

a type of shark with a unique head shape that is wide and flattened, resembling the shape of a hammer

"The diver spotted a hammerhead shark in the distance."

"The hammerhead shark's unusual head shape gives it better stereo vision and enhanced electroreception for hunting."