Common names of fish in Italian
Fish names are always a challenge across languages, even in English. Names change regionally, and can refer to a species, a family, a dish, or new marketing-defined brand names. Asian Carp, that invasive species threatening to wreck massive ecological damage to the Great Lakes, has recently been rebranded as “Copi.” Funded by an effort of the EPA, the hope is to get more folks to eat them up. I’d rather enjoy a “seared Copi with lemon butter” than a carp cake, I suspect.
Let’s take a look at what you’re most likely to come across on a menu in Italy. This list is an ongoing project and attempts to be comprehensive; I’ve bolded the most common variety you’ll see, and added some culinary notes.
Fish
| Singular / Plural | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alice, alici | Fresh anchovies | From Genoa you’ll find alici fritte, a delicious dish of fresh alici, opened, flattened, and fried |
| Acciuga, acciughe | Preserved, salted anchovies, under oil | What you might find served on a pizza, or as an ingredient for a sauce with garlic and peperoncino. A funny Italian expression: “You’re like an acciuga” — skinny. |
| Aringa, aringhe | Herring | You might see this as aringa affumicata, smoked herring, served under olive oil, vinegar, and onions. |
| Anguilla, anguille | Eel | A standard Christmas dish in the north, served pickled and chilled. |
| Baccalà | Salted cod | Merluzzo, salted and dried for preservation and storage. You might also see this as stoccafisso (Stock fish). In Venice, served whipped as crostini. |
| Bottarga | Dried, salted fish roe | Fish eggs, dried, salted, and then grated onto especially pasta dishes. Typically bottarga di muggine (mullet); can be bottarga di tonno (tuna). |
| Branzino, branzini | Sea bass | Most often served whole, grilled. A spectacular dish. |
| Cernia, cernie | Grouper | |
| Dentice, dentici | Sea bream | |
| Merluzzo, merluzzi | Fresh cod | Typically imported from the Atlantic. |
| Muggine, muggini | Red mullet | This is the fish whose dried, salted eggs make bottarga |
| Nasello, naselli | Hake | |
| Orata, orate | Gilthead sea bream | In Spanish, and some US menus, you’ll see this as “dorada,” one of the better ocean white fishes. |
| Passera di mare | Flounder | Be careful: “passera” by itself means pussy. 🙀 |
| Persico, persici | Freshwater perch | Typically found in the lakes of Lombardy. |
| Pesce spada | Swordfish | |
| Rana Pescatrice | Monkfish | |
| Razza | Stingray | |
| Rombo | Turbot, brill | |
| Salmone, salmoni | Salmon | |
| Sarda, sarde | Sardine | Pasta con le sarde is a famous Sicilian pasta dish that features sardines and fennel |
| Scorfano, scorfani | Scorpionfish | Also, an ugly person |
| Sogliola, sogliole | Sole, dover sole | |
| Sgombro, sgombri | Mackerel | |
| Spigola, spigole | Sea bass | |
| Tonno, tonni | Tuna | |
| Trota, trote | Freshwater trout | Also, trota salmonata, rainbow trout |
Shellfish
| Singular / Plural | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aragosta, aragoste | 🦞 Spiny lobster | Unlike the Maine variety, these lack the prominent front claw. |
| Astice, astici | Maine lobster | Imported |
| Capasanta, capasante | 🦪 Scallops | Falls under molluschi (mollusks). |
| Calamaro, calamari | 🦑 Squids | Few Americans need an introduction to calamari fritti, that classic dish of fried squids served with lemon (and, in the states, a red sauce, which you’ll never see in Italy.) |
| Cicale, or canocchia | Mantis shrimp | A large and flat shrimp. I think this is the colorful one with crazy eyes and a supersonic snapping claw that stuns fish. |
| Cozza, cozze | Mussels | Often included in frutti di mare |
| Frutti di mare | “Fruits of the sea” | Generally refers to shellfish, but can include regular fish, too. |
| Gambero, gamberi; gamberoni, gamberetto | 🦐 Shrimp; prawn when it’s large; little shrimps | |
| Mazzancolle | 🦞 Langoustine | A Venetian variety of king prawn, often made as mazzancolle in saor |
| Mitilo, mitili | Mussels | A regional variety of mussels, long and skinny |
| Moscardino, moscardini | 🐙 🐙 Tiny octopi | Usually a plate of many, served saucy or in a stew, sometimes in a sandwich |
| Ostrica, ostriche | 🦪 Oyster | Not very common, surprisingly. In reference to a person, someone who is ‘closed off,’ shy. |
| Polpo/polpi 🐙 | 🐙 Octopus | You may also see polipo, referring to the live animal. |
| Riccio di mare, ricci di mare | Sea urchin | Common in Sicily. Literally, ‘hedgehogs of the sea,’ aaaaw. |
| Seppia, seppie | Cuttlefish | A common dish is Risotto Nero di Seppia — risotto flavored with black cuttlefish ink |
| Scampi | Shrimp | |
| Scoglio, scogli | 🐚 “Sea rocks” | A general term for a mix of hard shelled critters, a dish of a variety of different clams or mussels. Also references large rocks off the sea shore. |
| Totano, totani | 🦑 A regional kind of squid | |
| Vongola, vongole | 🐚 Clams | Spaghetti con le vongole is well known — never served with grated cheese. |
Other sea animals, not for eating!
- Balena: whale. Oddly, arcobalena: rainbow.
- Squalo: shark! 🦈
- Orca: killer whale
- Pesce martello: hammer shark
- Delfino: 🐬