adj.

1. Of, relating to, living in, or consisting of water that is not salty: freshwater fish; freshwater lakes.
2. Situated away from the sea; inland.
3. Nautical. Accustomed to sailing on inland waters only: a freshwater sailor.

This entry is a subtopic of Fish.

Fish have been a major source of human food and of oil, fertilizer, and feed for domestic animals since the dawn of history. Efforts to propagate fish as a source of high-grade protein for human consumption have been more recent but still date to ancient China and the Roman Empire. In the twenty-first century, fish provide about 25 percent of the animal protein consumed by people in developing countries and as much as 75 percent in countries such as Bangladesh and the Philippines.

One reason for the long-standing popularity of fish as food is sheer numbers. More than 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered with water, and well over twenty thousand different species of fish live in marine, fresh, and brackish waters, making them the most diverse of all the animals. Fish can live at temperatures ranging from below freezing in Antarctic waters to over 100^oF (40^oC) in hot springs. They range in size from the .5-inch (1.3-centimeter) dwarf goby of the Philippine Islands to the 45-foot (14-meter), 25-ton whale shark of the tropical oceans. The nutritional profile of fish is also outstanding. Rich in the essential omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids so lacking in other foods, fish are also high in protein yet low in calories, sodium, sugars, saturated fats, and cholesterol.

Biology

Scientifically speaking, fish are aquatic vertebrates with gills instead of lungs and fins instead of external limbs. In contrast to the higher animals, fish are also cold-blooded, that is, their body temperatures remain the same as that of the water. A few species, such as tuna, are able to maintain their body temperatures a degree or two higher than the water.

The chain of life leading to fish production begins with the microscopic diatoms and algae in lakes, rivers, and the ocean. These aquatic plants, collectively termed phytoplankton, use the energy in sunlight to convert carbon dioxide dissolved in the water into the organic matter that eventually becomes food for fish. Fish were the earliest animals with backbones to appear in the fossil record, evolving from more primitive forms over 500 million years ago. In turn, the terrestrial animals evolved from the fishes.

Biologists class the more than twenty thousand known species of fish into three main groups, the Agnatha (primitive jawless fishes, such as the blood-sucking lamprey), the Chondrichthyes (sharks, skates, and rays that have skeletons of cartilage instead of bone), and the Osteichthyes (fishes with a bony skeleton, such as salmon and trout). All of the fish important as food are members of this latter group.

A typical bony fish is torpedo-shaped with a head containing a brain and eyes, a trunk with a muscular wall, and a postanal tail. Fish generally propel themselves through the water by undulating movements of the muscular trunk, using their fins to control direction. All have skins covered with a layer of mucus that decreases friction with the water, and nearly all are covered with an external layer of scales (catfish are one exception). Fishes also have a system of sensory organs along their sides, called the lateral line, that can detect pressure changes in the water caused by sounds. Fish obtain oxygen and eliminate carbon dioxide (breathe) by sucking water into the mouth and pumping it out over the gills. Oxygen dissolved in the water thus diffuses into the bloodstream, and carbon dioxide diffuses out. A few species (such as the African lungfish) also have air-breathing lungs as an additional means of respiration.

Most fish live in either saltwater or freshwater, but some important food fish are physiologically capable of migrating from one to the other. For example, Pacific and Atlantic salmon are hatched and reared in freshwater but then migrate to the ocean to grow and mature, returning to their natal streams and lakes to spawn. The eel has the opposite life history pattern. Thus eel and salmon may be thought of as either freshwater or saltwater fishes depending on age and season.

Over the years, a number of other aquatic animals have been given common names that include the term "fish," such as shellfish, but these do not resemble and are not related to true fish. Furthermore, some animals that have adopted an aquatic way of life, such as whales, seals, and sea snakes, superficially resemble fish and may even be called fish. But they are air breathers, and their anatomical structure is that of land animals.

Preparation and Food Safety

Fish are a highly perishable food product, and historically they had to be marketed live or preserved (cured) by smoking, salting, pickling, or a combination of these methods. Fish to be cured by any method are first cleaned, scaled, and eviscerated. They are salted by packing them between layers of salt or by immersion in brine. Smoking preserves fish both by permeation of smoke ingredients and by partial drying due to heat penetration. Fish can also be dried per se by carefully controlling temperature, humidity, and air velocity. However, dried fish are relatively unappetizing, and rehydration is slow. With the exception of smoked fish, the ready availability of ice and modern freezing and canning facilities has largely supplanted curing as a method of fish preservation. Fish are routinely shipped around the world either fresh or frozen. Fresh fish are shipped on ice and have an acceptable shelf life of about ten days. Frozen fish packaged in oxygen-impermeable plastic wrap, such as Saran, may be stored frozen at –20^oF (–29^oC) for up to six months with no appreciable loss in quality.

Fresh fish are almost always marketed as either whole fish on ice (viscera removed), dressed fish (head, fins, and viscera removed), fillets (sides cut lengthwise away from the backbone), or steaks (cut longitudinally into sections). Due to consumer demand, boneless cuts are increasingly available in the United States and Europe.

Fish is a naturally tender protein food, free of tough fibers that need to be softened by prolonged cooking. Thus fish products are best cooked using high-temperature, short-time methods. They may be deep-fat fried (325–350^oF; 163–177^oC), pan fried (sautéed) in a small amount of butter, broiled, poached (simmered, never boiled), or baked (400–450^oF; 204–232^oC). Pan frying or sautéing is one of the most widely used methods of cooking thin fillets in general. Microwaving is especially well suited to the high-temperature, short-time method of cooking fish. The advent of individually quick-frozen fish fillets has enabled timesaving cooking techniques, such as brushing marinades directly on the frozen product and grilling or oven roasting without the necessity of defrosting. Fish is generally ready to eat when cooked to a temperature of 140^oF (60^oC) and the flesh has turned opaque and flakes easily. Fish is eaten raw by some ethnic groups (such as Asians). Other ethnic specialty preparations, such as blackened fish (Cajun) or gefilte fish (Yiddish), are also popular.

To ensure food safety, fresh fish should be clean smelling, and the flesh should be firm and resilient when pressed. Fish should be kept wrapped and refrigerated at 40^oF (4^oC) or less and eaten within two days. Frozen fish should be rock hard, free of ice crystals, and have no white spots, visible drying, or browning around the edges. In the home, fish should be stored frozen at 0^oF (–18^oC) or below and for no more than three months. It should be thawed in a refrigerator, never at room temperature.

Freshwater Fish Commonly Used As Food

Historically, the human race has used literally thousands of different species of fish in its continuing search for sustainable sources of food. In the twenty-first century, the most popular in North America and Europe include carp, catfish, crappie, eel, lake herring, mullet, muskellunge, yellow perch, yellow pike, pickerel, salmon, suckers, sunfish, tilapia, trout, lake trout, and whitefish. In Indonesia, the Philippines, and Taiwan, milkfish have been used for food for centuries. In Asia, carp, ayu, and eel are important freshwater food fish. Some of the most interesting of these freshwater fish are discussed in more detail below.

Ayu. The ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis), also known as sweet fish in Japan and aroma fish in China, is an extremely popular and economically important freshwater food fish in many Asian countries. Historically, it was caught by Japanese fishermen using trained cormorants with rings around their necks to prevent them from swallowing. In the twenty-first century, it is wild-caught in rivers by sport and commercial fishermen or raised commercially for both restaurant consumption and home use. Ayu are usually sold live, on ice in the round, or frozen. The food quality of wild-caught ayu is especially desirable, characterized by a sweet, delicate taste and an odor reminiscent of cucumber or watermelon.

Carp. Carp (Cyprinus carpio) are the largest members of the minnow family and can easily reach a weight of ten kilograms or more. Although greatly underutilized in North America, the common carp has always been a widely popular freshwater food fish in the rest of the world. History records that carp were grown in ponds for food in ancient China in the fifth century B.C.E. In Europe, carp were grown in monastery ponds as early as the sixth century C.E. so the monks would have something to eat during the many meatless fasting days prescribed by the church. By the late Middle Ages, carp had become a well-established food item for the general populace. In the twenty-first century, carp are wild-caught or grown for food in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, India, China, Japan, Latin America, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, and Israel, to name only the major consumer nations. The world's leading producer is China, where carp are often grown in rice paddies in rotation or even simultaneously.

The most common market forms of carp are fresh whole fish, dressed fish, or fillets. Gefilte fish, fish balls blended with egg and matzo meal and simmered in a vegetable broth, is an ethnic specialty item (Yiddish) traditionally made from carp.

Catfish. The channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), native to warm water lakes and rivers in North America, is a traditional food fish in the southern United States. Consumer demand has moved from regional to national and even international. In the United States, the per capita consumption of catfish is exceeded only by that of tuna, shrimp, pollack, and salmon. To satisfy American consumer demand, several hundred thousand metric tons of channel catfish are produced by aquaculture each year in the southern United States.

Imported catfish from Vietnam has been marketed aggressively to restaurant chains and food service companies with considerable success. Advertised as delta-raised catfish, it is actually a catfish relative raised in the delta of the Mekong River. Another catfish species, the walking catfish, is a popular food fish in tropical regions and even in some European countries, especially the Netherlands.

Catfish is firm textured and has a mild, slightly nutty taste that complements a variety of flavors. It is a lean fish, and modern processing methods have eliminated bones. That, together with its lack of a fishy odor, gives it wide consumer appeal. Catfish were traditionally wild-caught and marketed as iced whole dressed fish. Modern farm-raised catfish are processed within minutes and shipped either on ice or as individually quick-frozen fillets, making it one of the freshest fish available. In addition to fresh or frozen fillets, steaks and nuggets (pieces) breaded or marinated with flavors and spices, such as Cajun spices or mesquite, are also common in seafood markets and restaurants and have even been introduced into school lunch programs. As Mark Twain once said, "The Catfish is a plenty good enough fish for anybody."

Eel. Although appreciated before the Civil War in North America, freshwater eels (primarily Anguilla anguilla and A. japonica) are a widely popular food item in Asian countries, particularly Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan. Eels are also an important delicacy in Europe, particularly Italy, where they must be produced commercially by aquaculture to satisfy consumer demand. Overall, however, China produces more than 70 percent of the eels sold in the world, and many rice paddies have been converted to eel production. Japan is the world's largest eel consumer, where kabayaki, eel fillets grilled with a sweet basting sauce, is practically a national dish.

As mentioned, eel consumption in North America is minor. However, freshwater eel unagi is common in Japanese restaurants in the United States, where it may be served grilled with teriyaki sauce or used in sushi or unadon (eel over rice). In addition, each year many tons of market-sized eels are wild-caught by U.S. fishermen and exported to Europe, where it is eaten roasted or even jellied and baked into pies.

Eels have an interesting life history in that they live in freshwater rivers and lakes, where they grow to adult size, then they migrate into the ocean, where they swim long distances to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and die. The newly hatched young eels may then ride the ocean currents for several years until they reach coastal waters and swim back to freshwater rivers. There they grow to adult size and can be harvested for food.

Eels under a kilogram in size are the most tender. The rich, sweet, firm flesh of eel must be refrigerated and eaten immediately, so the best restaurants keep live eels in aquarium tanks. The skin and outer layer of fat are removed by the chef, and the fillets are either grilled or roasted. Eel is also available frozen, smoked, or jellied in cans.

Asian folklore holds that eel consumption confers strength and vitality, particularly in hot summer weather. Eels are amazingly rich in vitamin E and in the omega-3 fatty acids (DHA) that are essential to brain functions involving mood.

Milkfish. Milkfish (Chanos chanos) have been an important food fish for people in Southeast Asia for many centuries. Although they are an oceanic fish, milkfish spawn in shallow coastal areas, where fry and fingerlings are collected in nets and carried to freshwater or brackish water ponds for rearing to market size. Milkfish have been raised in this fashion for at least seven hundred years in the Philippines and Indonesia. Taiwan is also a major producer. Milkfish (bangus) is sold in Asian markets and restaurants either fresh, smoked, marinated, as fish balls, as fish sausages, or as fish nuggets. It is also exported frozen to North America, where sinigang na bangus (milk-fish in sour broth) is a popular dish among ethnic Indonesians and Filipinos.

Tilapia. Although relatively new to North American fish markets, tilapia are actually a group of fish (cichlid) that traces its origins to North Africa and the Middle East. These mild, white, sweetly flavored fish have been wild-caught or pond-raised around the world for centuries. Called St. Peter's fish in many parts of the world, legend has it that the fish Jesus multiplied to feed the multitudes in the story of the seven loaves and fishes was tilapia (Matt. 17:24–27).

Because of their versatility, tilapia have been nicknamed "the aquatic chicken" and can be baked, broiled, fried, blackened, grilled, poached, or sautéed. Sautéing is one of the most popular methods of preparing thin fillets in general, and in most recipes tilapia can easily substitute for catfish or even sole and flounder.

Tilapia are grown in floating cages, ponds, or rice fields in temperate and tropical regions around the world. Only Chinese carp and salmon or trout exceed tilapia in total worldwide fish production. Although they are less popular in the United States, tilapia consumption has grown to rival trout among the commercially raised fish species. Since relatively modest numbers of tilapia are produced by U.S. aquaculture, large quantities of frozen fillets are imported from Indonesia, Taiwan, and Mexico to satisfy consumer demand. Many large U.S. cities report a significant demand for live tilapia delivered to ethnic Asian markets.

Trout. Many trout species have historically been used for food, but rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) have been by far the most popular. Originally native to cold water environments in the north temperate zone, this prized food fish has been transplanted around the world and is well established in North and South America, Japan, China, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Africa. Top trout-producing countries include Chile, Denmark, France, Italy, and the United States.

Most rainbow trout is marketed as head-on dressed fish, as fresh or frozen boneless fillets, or as smoked fish. Farmed trout are typically rich in the omega-3 fatty acids so essential to normal brain and eye function, while they are less expensive than most other fish products.

Walleye pike. Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum), a member of the perch family with an excellent reputation for its food quality, is a widely sought cool-water fish mostly caught by anglers for home use but also available in fish markets and restaurants in much of the northern United States and Canada. In the United States, a limited commercial harvest comes from the Great Lakes. However, most of the commercial harvest is from Canadian fishing on Lake Erie and the inland waters of Ontario and Saskatchewan. The walleye is Canada's most economically valuable freshwater fish. Only a few commercial growers produce food-size walleye, but because of its reputation for excellent food quality (aroma, flavor, and texture), its name recognition, and its high retail price, walleye has considerable aquaculture potential. Traditionally, walleye are sold as scaled, skin-on fillets. A two-pound fish yields about two eight-ounce dinner-size fillets.

Whitefish. Lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) native to the deep cold lakes of North America are popular food fish in the United States and Canada. They are widely sold in restaurants, and some believe their flaky, non-oily white meat is the best tasting of all the freshwater fish. Early settlers claimed they could eat nothing but whitefish for days at a time and never tire of it. A large commercial fishery for whitefish exists in Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes of the midwestern United States. In Canada, close to 600,000 kilograms of whitefish a year is caught and sold by tribal fishermen of the Great Slave Lake alone. Most whitefish is marketed frozen and sold in restaurants or supermarkets, but limited amounts are also available smoked or fresh. White-fish eggs, termed freshwater or golden caviar, are sometimes sold as a less-expensive substitute for sturgeon caviar.

Bibliography

American Tilapia Association. Available at http://www.ag.arizona.edu. Hosted by the University of Arizona as a service to the industry.

Catfish Institute. Available at http://www.catfishinstitute.com.

Costa-Pierce, Barry A., and James E. Rakocy, eds. Tilapia Aqua-culture in the Americas. Baton Rouge, La.: World Aquaculture Society, 1997–2000.

Lagler, Karl F., John E. Bardach, Robert R. Miller, and Dora R. Miller Passino. Ichthyology. 2d ed. New York: John Wiley, 1981.

National Fisheries Institute. Available at http://www.nfi.org.

Nelson, Joseph S. Fishes of the World. 3d ed. New York: John Wiley, 1994.

Restaurants USA. 1992–1996. National Restaurant Association. Washington D.C., various issues.

Schweid, Richard. Consider the Eel. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

Stickney, Robert E., ed. Encyclopedia of Aquaculture. New York: Wiley, 2000.

Tucker, Craig S., and Edwin H. Robinson. Channel Catfish Farming Handbook. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990.

U.S. Trout Farmers Association. Available at http://www.ustfa.org.

—Gary A. Wedemeyer

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The adjective has one meaning:

Meaning #1: relating to or living in or consisting of water that is not salty

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - ferskvand

Nederlands (Dutch)
zoetwater(-), provinciaal, onbedreven, binnenvaart-

Français (French)
adj. - d'eau douce

Deutsch (German)
adj. - Süßwasser-

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - του γλυκού νερού

Italiano (Italian)
d'acqua dolce

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - de água doce

Русский (Russian)
пресноводный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - de agua dulce, de provincia o rural (esp. una escuela o universidad)

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - sötvattens-, oerfaren (om sjöman), provinsiell (amer.)

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
淡水的, 无经验的, 内河航行的, 不熟练的

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 淡水的, 無經驗的, 內河航行的, 不熟練的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 민물의, 미숙한

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 淡水の, 田舎の, 無名の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) ماء عذب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮של מים מתוקים, כפרי, קרתני (ארה"ב)‬

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