Do You Know How To Order Your Fish?

It's a sea bream. It's a very popular fish and easy to recognize. Sea bream is widely consumed in Spanish gastronomy. On the Mediterranean coast it is usually prepared on a salt bed. Baking the fish like this allows the heat to reach it, but keeps it dry, partially eliminating the fat while preserving its juices and nutrients.

Anchoa or boqueron? Well actually we are talking about the same species: anchovy, also known as bokarta on the Cantabrian coast. However, the terms are not interchangeable: bokarta is used to denominate Cantabrian anchovy, caught and eaten fresh. The term anchoa refers to the salted preparation, while boqueron is used when it is marinated in vinegar.

They are cuttlefish, which are basically just small squid. Cuttlefish dishes are widespread across the whole of Spain, especially in the Basque Country where they are traditionally prepared in their ink. The origin of this recipe is unknown, but one of the most likely theories was put forward in the thesis of Julián Otero, from the Basque Culinary Center, which suggests Filipino provenance.

It's a conger eel. It looks like a European eel, but is actually a white fish native to the Mediterranean Sea, although it can also be found in the North Atlantic and Baltic Sea. It has a distinctive, flavorful meat, but needs to be eaten carefully as it also contains many bones.

The conger eel often cohabitates in caves with clawed lobsters—they make a good partnership, each dependent on the other. Octopus is one of the main predators of the clawed lobster, and the conger eel feeds on octopus.

This large, pleasant-looking crab is one of the most widely eaten crustaceans by humans. It is generally known as brown crab or edible crab, but is given different names depending on the geographic area, for example ñocla or noca in Asturias, masera in Cantabria, etc.

Here's a curious fact about the difference in behavior of the male and female when exchanging shells. The male tends to protect the female while she moves shells. However, when the males move shell, the females chase them to eat them.

This species is known as a gurnard. It is a rockfish, like the conger eel or the monkfish. In the region of Villajoyosa, in Alicante, this strongly flavored fish is used to make a sweet rice dish in a copper or iron pot.

They are two red scorpion fish. This species of fish is the most well known of the scorpionf ish family and undoubtedly the most important from an economic and gastronomic point of view. In the 1970s, Juan Mari Arzak popularized a red scorpion fish pudding (pastel de kabrarroka), which is very popular all across Spain today.