Talk:Argyrosomus japonicus

Latest comment: 6 years ago by 203.220.76.66 in topic Names.

Names. edit

There is a similar looking fish (Nibea squammosa) found in the Gulf of Carpentaria, also called Jewel fish because of the two head "jewels". Southern terminology is often jewfish. Like Chinaman fish, the name may have arisen from ethnic rivalry. The chinaman fish was sold to the newly arrived and gulible Chinese, and similarly Jews were sold jewfish. The problem with these names is that jewfish are usually very good to eat, and would not be passed off to the gulible. The 1697 Oxford dictionary clears up the mystery: "The Jew-Fish is a very good fish and, I judge, so called by the English because it hath scales and fins, therefore a clean fish, according to Levitical law."203.220.76.66 (talk) 23:50, 21 November 2017 (UTC)Reply