seafood

/ˌsiˈfud/

/ˈsifud/

Other forms: seafoods

Seafood refers to water-dwelling animals that people kill and eat, such as fish, shrimp, or even octopuses. Seafood is not what happens to your friend if you open your mouth while you’re chewing.

Do you enjoy fish and chips? Fried clams? Tuna fish sandwiches? All of these qualify as seafood. It was once fairly common to think of larger sea creatures including whales and dolphins as seafood too, although fewer people eat these animals today. The term seafood can also be used for fish that live in lakes and rivers, rather than oceans; and edible seaweeds like kelp.

Definitions of seafood

1. noun

   edible fish (broadly including freshwater fish) or shellfish or roe etc
   types:

   saltwater fish

   flesh of fish from the sea used as food

   freshwater fish

   flesh of fish from fresh water used as food

   calamari, calamary, squid

   (Italian cuisine) squid prepared as food

   octopus

   tentacles of octopus prepared as food

   periwinkle, winkle

   small edible marine snail; steamed in wine or baked

   whelk

   large marine snail much used as food in Europe

   shellfish

   meat of edible aquatic invertebrate with a shell (especially a mollusk or crustacean)

   prawn, shrimp

   any of various edible decapod crustaceans

   whitefish

   any market fish--edible saltwater fish or shellfish--except herring

   hard roe, roe

   fish eggs or egg-filled ovary; having a grainy texture

   milt, soft roe

   fish sperm or sperm-filled reproductive gland; having a creamy texture

   bream, sea bream

   flesh of any of various saltwater fishes of the family Sparidae or the family Bramidae

   bream, freshwater bream

   flesh of various freshwater fishes of North America or of Europe

   bass, freshwater bass

   any of various North American freshwater fish with lean flesh (especially of the genus Micropterus)

   bass, sea bass

   the lean flesh of a saltwater fish of the family Serranidae

   grouper

   flesh of a saltwater fish similar to sea bass

   croaker

   the lean flesh of a saltwater fish caught along Atlantic coast of southern U.S.

   whiting

   flesh of any of a number of slender food fishes especially of Atlantic coasts of North America

   whiting

   flesh of a cod-like fish of the Atlantic waters of Europe

   cusk

   the lean flesh of a cod-like fish of North Atlantic waters

   dolphinfish, mahimahi

   the lean flesh of a saltwater fish found in warm waters (especially in Hawaii)

   carp

   the lean flesh of a fish that is often farmed; can be baked or braised

   buffalofish

   large carp-like North American fish

   pike

   highly valued northern freshwater fish with lean flesh

   monkfish

   flesh of a large-headed anglerfish of the Atlantic waters of North America

   sucker

   flesh of any of numerous North American food fishes with toothless jaws

   catfish, mudcat

   flesh of scaleless food fish of the southern United States; often farmed

   perch

   any of numerous fishes of America and Europe

   sunfish

   the lean flesh of any of numerous American perch-like fishes of the family Centrarchidae

   tuna, tuna fish, tunny

   important warm-water fatty fish of the genus Thunnus of the family Scombridae; usually served as steaks

   mackerel

   flesh of very important usually small (to 18 in) fatty Atlantic fish

   pompano

   flesh of pompano; warm-water fatty fish

   blowfish, puffer, pufferfish, sea squab

   delicacy that is highly dangerous because of a potent nerve poison in ovaries and liver

   mussel

   black marine bivalves usually steamed in wine

   herring

   valuable flesh of fatty fish from shallow waters of northern Atlantic or Pacific; usually salted or pickled

   kingfish

   the lean flesh of any of several fish caught off the Atlantic coast of the United States

   lingcod

   the lean flesh of a fish caught off the Pacific coast of the United States

   bluefish

   fatty bluish flesh of bluefish

   swordfish

   flesh of swordfish usually served as steaks

   butterfish

   any of numerous small flat Atlantic food fish having smooth skin

   huitre, oyster

   edible body of any of numerous oysters

   clam

   flesh of either hard-shell or soft-shell clams

   cockle

   common edible European bivalve

   crab, crabmeat

   the edible flesh of any of various crabs

   crawdad, crawfish, crayfish, ecrevisse

   tiny lobster-like crustaceans usually boiled briefly

   cod, codfish

   lean white flesh of important North Atlantic food fish; usually baked or poached

   pollack, pollock

   lean white flesh of North Atlantic fish; similar to codfish

   porgy, scup

   lean flesh of fish found in warm waters of southern Atlantic coast of the United States

   scup

   flesh of fish found in colder waters of northern Atlantic coast of the United States

   flatfish

   sweet lean whitish flesh of any of numerous thin-bodied fish; usually served as thin fillets

   rockfish

   the lean flesh of any of various valuable market fish caught among rocks

   sailfish

   a saltwater fish with lean flesh

   weakfish

   lean flesh of food and game fishes of the Atlantic coast of the United States

   limpet

   an aquatic snail with a low, cone-shaped shell and a muscular foot used to attach itself to rocks

   lobster

   flesh of a lobster

   crayfish, langouste, rock lobster, spiny lobster

   warm-water lobsters without claws; those from Australia and South Africa usually marketed as frozen tails; caught also in Florida and California

   coral

   unfertilized lobster roe; reddens in cooking; used as garnish or to color sauces

   pilchard, sardine

   small fatty fish usually canned

   river prawn

   large Australian prawn

   brook trout, speckled trout

   a delicious freshwater food fish

   lake trout

   flesh of large trout of northern lakes

   whitefish

   flesh of salmon-like or trout-like cold-water fish of cold lakes of the northern hemisphere

   snapper

   flesh of any of various important food fishes of warm seas

   red rockfish

   red flesh of large food fish of Pacific coast

   escallop, scallop, scollop

   edible muscle of mollusks having fan-shaped shells; served broiled or poached or in salads or cream sauces

   caviar, caviare

   salted roe of sturgeon or other large fish; usually served as an hors d'oeuvre

   shad roe

   roe of shad; may be parboiled or baked or sauteed gently

   type of:

   food, solid food

   any solid substance (as opposed to liquid) that is used as a source of nourishment