100 Fun Facts About Seafood

Lobsters have blue blood because their blood carries oxygen using a compound built around which metal?

Copper: lobster blood carries oxygen with hemocyanin, a copper-based molecule that turns blue when oxygenated; vertebrates use iron-based hemoglobin, which is why our blood is red.

The heaviest lobster ever caught, just over 20 kg per Guinness, came from the waters of which Canadian province?

Nova Scotia: Guinness records a 20.14 kg (44 lb 6 oz) lobster caught off Nova Scotia in 1977 as the heaviest ever; lobsters keep growing throughout their lives.

A cooked lobster turns orange because heat breaks down a protein that had been masking which pigment?

Astaxanthin: in a live lobster the protein crustacyanin binds astaxanthin and turns it blue-black; heat unfolds the protein and frees the orange-red pigment, the same one fed to farmed salmon.

In colonial New England lobster was so abundant it was thought of as food for whom?

Servants and the poor: lobster was so plentiful in colonial New England that it was fed to servants and prisoners and even spread as fertiliser; the tale of laws capping servants at two servings a week is unsupported.

The lobster roll is commonly credited to a restaurant called Perry's in which Connecticut town?

Milford: Harry Perry's restaurant in Milford, Connecticut, is credited with the first lobster roll around 1929, served warm with butter; the cold mayonnaise version most people picture is the Maine style.

Under ideal laboratory conditions a single oyster can filter roughly how much water in a day?

190 litres: under ideal lab conditions an adult oyster filters up to about 50 US gallons, roughly 190 litres, a day; Chesapeake Bay's historic reefs once filtered the whole estuary every few days.

The nucleus placed in an oyster to start a cultured pearl is usually a polished piece of what?

Mussel shell: the bead nucleus is cut and polished from thick freshwater mussel shell, mostly from American rivers, which the oyster then coats in layers of nacre over the following years.

Oysters Rockefeller was invented in 1889 at Antoine's because it ran short of what?

Snails: Jules Alciatore of Antoine's in New Orleans created the dish in 1889 when imported snails ran short and local oysters stood in; he named it for John D. Rockefeller because the sauce was so rich.

Which tetrodotoxin-laden fish may only be prepared in Japanese restaurants by specially licensed chefs?

Pufferfish: fugu carries tetrodotoxin in its liver and ovaries, so Japan allows only licensed chefs, who pass a prefectural exam after years of apprenticeship, to prepare and serve it.

Serving which part of the fugu, its tastiest and most poisonous, was banned in Japanese restaurants in 1984?

The liver: Japan's health ministry banned serving fugu liver in 1984; kabuki star Bandō Mitsugorō VIII had died in 1975 after eating four servings of it, insisting he was immune.

In which city did Hanaya Yohei invent nigiri sushi around 1824?

It was the fast food of Edo's townspeople, sold from street stalls long before it became fine dining.

The first conveyor belt sushi restaurant, Genroku Zushi, opened in what year?

1958: Yoshiaki Shiraishi opened Mawaru Genroku Zushi in Higashiosaka in 1958, inspired by the conveyor belts of a beer factory; the format spread nationwide after Genroku exhibited at the 1970 Osaka Expo.

Traditionally, the word caviar refers only to the roe of which fish?

Sturgeon: strictly, caviar is salt-cured sturgeon roe, classically beluga, osetra and sevruga from the Caspian; in the US only sturgeon roe may be sold simply as 'caviar', other eggs must name the fish.

Iran's 'Almas' caviar comes from the eggs of a rare albino fish aged between how many years?

60 and 100: Almas ('diamond') comes from rare albino beluga sturgeon said to be 60 to 100 years old; its pale eggs are packed in 24-carat gold tins by Caviar House & Prunier.

Which immigrant opened the first recorded fish and chip shop in Bow, East London, around 1860?

Joseph Malin: an Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant, Malin opened a shop in Bow around 1860 that is usually counted as Britain's first fish and chip shop; John Lees of Mossley, Lancashire, is the rival northern claimant from 1863.

During the Second World War, fish and chips held what special status in Britain?

It was never rationed: the wartime government kept fish and chips off the ration book to protect morale, though queues and shortages were common; Churchill called the pair 'the good companions'.

Ceviche is recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of which country?

Peru: UNESCO inscribed Peruvian ceviche on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in December 2023; the dish's name appears in print as early as the 1820 patriotic song 'La Chicha'.

Paella takes its name from the word for what in Catalan and Valencian?

Frying pan: paella is the Valencian and Catalan word for the wide, shallow pan (from Latin patella) the rice is cooked in, so the dish took the vessel's name; the classic Valencian version uses chicken, rabbit and snails.

Which style of clam chowder is made with a clear broth, using neither milk nor tomatoes?

Rhode Island: Rhode Island clam chowder is made with a clear broth of clam juice, potatoes, onion and salt pork, skipping both New England's milk and Manhattan's tomatoes.

Imitation crab sticks are made from surimi, a paste most often based on which fish?

Alaska pollock: most surimi is made from Alaska (walleye) pollock, a cheap, mild white fish whose minced flesh is washed, shaped and coloured to mimic crab; Japan has made fish paste since kamaboko appeared in 1115.

The five-toothed chewing organ of a sea urchin is named after which ancient philosopher?

Aristotle: the urchin's jaw apparatus is called Aristotle's lantern after his description in Historia Animalium; the 'lantern' probably referred to the whole animal, which resembled the horn lamps of his day.

Bouillabaisse, the Provençal fish soup, originated in which port city?

In 1980 eleven Marseille restaurateurs signed a Bouillabaisse Charter fixing the ingredients and method, and it must include rascasse.

Lutefisk, the Nordic Christmas dish, is dried whitefish that has been cured in what?

Straight out of the lye the fish has a pH of 11 to 12 and is inedible; days of soaking bring it back.

Swedish shops release each year's surströmming on the third Thursday of which month?

August: a royal decree once banned selling the year's surströmming before the third Thursday of August so it was fully fermented; the rule lapsed in the 1990s but producers keep the 'premiere' date.

Iceland's fermented national dish hákarl is made from the meat of which animal?

Greenland shark: hákarl is Greenland shark fermented underground for weeks, then hung to dry for months; fresh, its flesh is toxic from urea and trimethylamine oxide, and Anthony Bourdain called it the worst thing he had ever eaten.

According to amphora inscriptions, the Roman fish sauce garum was most often made from which fish?

Mackerel: painted labels on Roman amphorae most often record garum scombri, sauce made from mackerel, with Spain's garum sociorum the prized grade; Pliny called garum 'the liquor from putrefaction', yet it fills the Apicius cookbook.

Which small fish is a key ingredient of both Worcestershire sauce and Caesar salad dressing?

Anchovy: Lea & Perrins' Worcestershire sauce lists fermented anchovies among its ingredients, and Caesar dressing gets its savoury depth from anchovy, either directly or through that same sauce.

Which sea snail has an ear-shaped shell with a row of holes and is called pāua in New Zealand?

Abalone: abalone are marine gastropods with a flattened, ear-shaped shell pierced by a row of respiratory holes; New Zealand's pāua species has a vivid blue-green iridescent interior prized for mother-of-pearl inlay.

The geoduck, the world's largest burrowing clam, has a typical lifespan of about how many years?

140: geoducks are among the longest-lived animals, with a typical lifespan around 140 years and recorded individuals past 160; the name comes from the Lushootseed word gʷidəq, and in Chinese it is the 'elephant-trunk clam'.

In 1983 which US state named the crawfish its official state crustacean?

Louisiana: the legislature made the crawfish Louisiana's official state crustacean in 1983; the state's ponds and Atchafalaya Basin supply most of the US crawfish crop, mostly red swamp and white river crayfish.

The Soviet Union deliberately introduced the red king crab into which sea in the 1960s?

Barents Sea: Soviet scientists released Pacific red king crabs into the Barents Sea near Murmansk in the 1960s to create a fishery; the crab has since spread along the Norwegian coast as both prized catch and invasive pest.

On 2 July 1992 Canada declared a moratorium on fishing which species off Newfoundland?

Northern cod: fisheries minister John Crosbie announced the northern cod moratorium on 2 July 1992 after the Grand Banks stock collapsed, putting about 30,000 Newfoundlanders out of work at a stroke.

Which country is said to have more than 365 ways of cooking bacalhau, its beloved salt cod?

Portugal: the Portuguese claim more than 365 ways to cook bacalhau, one for each day of the year; salt cod is the traditional Christmas Eve dinner there, and Portugal eats more fish per head than any other EU country.

Which country produces more than half of the world's farmed Atlantic salmon?

Norway: Norway farms well over half of the world's Atlantic salmon, with Chile a distant second; producers grade the flesh's pink against a colour fan, the SalmoFan, descended from the old Roche Colour Card.

Which herb is the classic flavouring in the salt-and-sugar cure for gravlax?

Dill: gravlax is cured under a blanket of salt, sugar and chopped dill for a day or more, then sliced thin and served with hovmästarsås, a sweet mustard-and-dill sauce.

What is the Japanese name for freshwater eel, grilled over charcoal with a sweet soy glaze?

Unagi: unagi is Japanese freshwater eel, split, skewered and grilled over charcoal with a sweet soy tare in the kabayaki style; anago is the saltwater conger eel, served softer and lighter.

A kipper is a split, salted, cold-smoked herring; what is a herring cold-smoked whole called?

A bloater: a bloater is a whole, ungutted herring lightly salted and cold-smoked, giving the gamey flavour Great Yarmouth made famous; a buckling is hot-smoked whole, while rollmops and bismarcks are pickled, not smoked.

Cioppino, the Dungeness crab seafood stew, was created by Italian immigrant fishermen in which city?

San Francisco: cioppino was developed in the 1800s by Italian, largely Genoese, fishermen on San Francisco's North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf; folk etymology says a fisherman who came back empty-handed asked the others to 'chip in'.

In 1950s Britain, Birds Eye shoppers unexpectedly preferred fish fingers made of which fish over herring?

Cod: in Birds Eye's 1955 Southampton trial the bland cod fingers, meant only as a control, beat the herring version the company had planned to sell as 'herring savouries', so fish fingers launched as cod.

Shrimp and grits, a Lowcountry signature, was historically eaten at what time of day during shrimp season?

In the Lowcountry it was long known simply as 'breakfast shrimps'.

Which two parts of a squid are considered inedible?

The beak and the pen: the chitinous beak and the transparent internal shell, the pen or gladius, are pulled out when cleaning a squid; the mantle, fins, arms, tentacles and even the ink (calamares en su tinta) are all eaten.

Which Canadian province produces about 80% of North America's cultured mussels?

Prince Edward Island: PEI's sheltered bays grow the blue mussels sold across the continent, roughly 80% of North America's farmed supply; the 'beard' you pull off is the byssus, threads the mussel uses to cling to rock.

Unlike most bivalves, scallops have a ring of many simple what around the edge of their mantle?

Eyes: a scallop's mantle edge carries up to 200 tiny eyes, each focusing light with a mirror of guanine crystals rather than a lens; scallops also swim, clapping their shells to jet away from starfish.

By 2016, which country had become the world's largest exporter of shrimp?

India: helped by the switch from black tiger to the faster-growing whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) in Andhra Pradesh's ponds, India overtook Thailand and Vietnam to become the largest shrimp exporter by 2016; Ecuador later took the lead.

How many oysters a day did the lover Casanova reputedly eat?

50: legend has Casanova eating 50 oysters for breakfast, and his memoirs dwell on oyster games with lovers; oysters are exceptionally rich in zinc, which later science tied to male fertility, feeding the aphrodisiac myth.

The first widespread mercury poisoning via seafood happened in the 1950s in which Japanese town?

Minamata: the Chisso factory's methylmercury wastewater built up in fish and shellfish eaten around Minamata Bay, with the disease officially recognised in 1956; severe methylmercury poisoning became known as Minamata disease.

Which pungent Korean delicacy is made from skate fermented until it smells of ammonia?

Hongeo: hongeo-hoe is skate fermented for weeks until the urea in its flesh turns to ammonia, giving a smell often likened to a public toilet; it is a speciality of Heuksan Island and Mokpo in South Jeolla.

A 2013 Oceana study found roughly what share of US seafood samples were mislabelled?

One third: Oceana's 2013 nationwide study found 33% of 1,215 seafood samples from 674 US outlets were mislabelled; snapper (87%) and tuna (59%) were swapped most often, usually for cheaper species.

Pinnacle Point, a sea cave with evidence of humans harvesting marine life 165,000 years ago, is in which country?

South Africa: Pinnacle Point's caves near Mossel Bay on the Western Cape coast hold shellfish remains about 164,000 years old, the earliest known evidence of humans systematically eating seafood.

Which fish did Romans prize as the height of luxury because its scales turned bright red as it died?

Goatfish: the red mullet, a goatfish of the genus Mullus, shifted through scarlet hues as it died, so wealthy Romans had it brought to table alive in glass vessels; Seneca and Pliny scorned the fad and the huge prices paid.

Stargazy pie, with fish heads poking through its crust, comes from which Cornish village?

Mousehole: stargazy pie belongs to Mousehole, where it is eaten on Tom Bawcock's Eve, 23 December, honouring a fisherman said to have braved a storm and landed seven kinds of fish to save the village from starvation.

Which Scottish soup of smoked fish, potato and onion is named after a town in Moray?

Cullen skink: the soup of smoked haddock, potato and onion is named for Cullen, a fishing town on the Moray Firth; 'skink' is a Scots word for a beef-shin broth that came to mean soup generally.

Arbroath smokies, EU-protected since 2004, are a hot-smoked form of which fish?

Haddock: an Arbroath smokie is a whole haddock, headed and gutted, dry-salted, tied in pairs and hot-smoked over hardwood; legend says the method began when a store in nearby Auchmithie burned, cooking barrels of salted fish.

The Filet-O-Fish beat which Ray Kroc creation in a 1962 Friday sales contest?

The Hula Burger: Kroc's Hula Burger, a slice of grilled pineapple with cheese on a bun, sold six against the Filet-O-Fish's 350 on a Lenten Friday in 1962, winning Cincinnati franchisee Lou Groen's sandwich a permanent menu spot.

Lobster Thermidor is named, via an 1891 play, after a month in which calendar?

French Republican: Thermidor, the 'month of heat', was the eleventh month of the French Republican calendar; Victorien Sardou's 1891 play of that name was shut down by the authorities after a few performances, and the dish borrowed its notoriety.

According to legend, Lobster Newberg was first demonstrated at which New York restaurant?

Delmonico's: sea captain Ben Wenberg showed the dish to Charles Delmonico in 1876 and it went on the menu as Lobster à la Wenberg; after a quarrel the restaurant renamed it Newberg, scrambling his name.

Old Bay Seasoning takes its name from what?

A steamship line: Old Bay is named for the Old Bay Line, the Baltimore Steam Packet Company that ran overnight boats between Baltimore and Norfolk; creator Gustav Brunn fled Nazi Germany and launched the blend in 1939.

Crab Rangoon, named after a Burmese city, was probably invented at which restaurant chain?

Trader Vic's: crab rangoon appears on a 1950s Trader Vic's menu and is credited to Victor Bergeron's tiki chain; its cream cheese filling is a mid-century American touch found in neither Chinese nor Burmese cooking.

A soft-shell crab is simply one that has just done what?

Shed its exoskeleton: a soft-shell crab has just moulted, shedding its old exoskeleton before the new one hardens; crabbers hold 'peelers' in tanks and pull them within hours of the moult, while the shell is paper-thin.

Stone crab fishers take what from the animal before returning it alive to the sea?

Its claws: fishers snap off one or both legal-size claws and return the stone crab to the water, where the limb regrows over a few moults; Florida closes the fishery each summer, and the bodies are rarely eaten.

Bombay duck, a dried Indian delicacy, is actually what kind of animal?

A lizardfish: Bombay duck is Harpadon nehereus, a lizardfish of the Arabian Sea and Indo-Pacific, salted and sun-dried until pungent; an EU import ban in 1997 sparked a 'Save Bombay Duck' campaign that won it an exemption.

In Poland, gefilte fish was classically made from which freshwater fish?

Carp: Polish gefilte fish was classically made with carp, the freshwater fish also cooked as karp po żydowsku and, among Polish Catholics, served as the centrepiece of the Christmas Eve Wigilia supper.

Katsuobushi, the Japanese flakes that dance on hot okonomiyaki, are made from which fish?

Skipjack tuna: katsuobushi is skipjack tuna (katsuo) that is simmered, smoked for weeks, then cultured with Aspergillus mould and sun-dried until hard as wood; shaved flakes curl in rising heat, which makes them 'dance'.

The 1976 deal ending the Cod Wars gave Iceland a fishery zone of how many nautical miles?

200: the Oslo agreement of June 1976 ended the third Cod War with Britain accepting Iceland's 200-nautical-mile exclusive fishery zone; Iceland won all three disputes, partly by threatening to leave NATO and close the Keflavík base.

Canada's 1995 'Turbot War' with Spain was fought over a fish better known as what?

Greenland halibut: the fish Canadians call turbot is Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides); in March 1995 Canadian patrol boats fired warning shots and seized the Spanish trawler Estai just outside the 200-mile limit on the Grand Banks.

The Italian-American Feast of the Seven Fishes is also known by which Italian name?

La Vigilia: the feast is the Italian-American form of La Vigilia di Natale, the Christmas Eve vigil when Catholics abstained from meat; the 'seven fishes' label itself appears to be a 20th-century American coinage.

In Hawaiian, the word poke literally means what?

To slice: poke means 'to slice' or 'cut crosswise into pieces' in Hawaiian, describing the cubed raw fish; food historian Rachel Laudan dates the dish's present form only to the 1970s.

A whole Dutch Hollandse Nieuwe herring is traditionally eaten how?

Dangled by its tail: the classic way is to hold the herring by the tail, tip back your head and bite, usually with chopped raw onion; Hollandse Nieuwe is young herring caught from late May to early July, before spawning.

Tokyo's Tsukiji wholesale fish market closed in 2018 and moved to which site?

Toyosu: the inner wholesale market moved in October 2018 to a new complex on reclaimed land at Toyosu in Koto ward; the move, first set for 2016, was delayed by soil contamination, and only Tsukiji's outer market of shops remains.

Which caviar grade takes its name from the Russian word for sturgeon itself?

Osetra: osetra caviar comes from the Russian sturgeon, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, and takes its name from osyotr, the Russian word for sturgeon; its medium-sized eggs range from golden to dark brown.

The first Red Lobster opened in 1968 in which US state?

Florida: Bill Darden opened the first Red Lobster in Lakeland, Florida, in 1968; General Mills bought the chain in 1970 and took it national.

The Dungeness crab became which state's official crustacean in 2009 after pupils lobbied?

Oregon: fourth-graders at Sunset Primary School in West Linn lobbied the Oregon legislature, which named the Dungeness crab the state crustacean in 2009; California followed with the same crab in 2024.

Scampi, langoustine and Dublin Bay prawn are all names for which animal?

Norway lobster: Nephrops norvegicus, the Norway lobster, is the scampi of British menus, the langoustine of France and the Dublin Bay prawn of Ireland; in 1995 Symbion pandora, found on its mouthparts, founded a new phylum, Cycliophora.

Ackee and saltfish is the national dish of which Caribbean country?

Jamaica: ackee and saltfish pairs the fruit brought from West Africa with salt cod; the unripe fruit's hypoglycin causes 'Jamaican vomiting sickness', so the US allows only approved canned ackee to be imported.

Moqueca, a fish stew often cooked in hand-made clay pans, comes from which country?

Brazil: moqueca is Brazilian, with two rival schools: Bahia's uses dendê palm oil and coconut milk, while Espírito Santo's capixaba version, cooked in local clay pans, uses annatto and olive oil and no palm oil.

Fish tacos originated in which Mexican state?

Baja California: fish tacos are traced to Ensenada and San Felipe in Baja California, where Japanese-influenced battered fish met the tortilla; Ralph Rubio's San Diego chain, opened in 1983, popularised them north of the border.

Takoyaki, the griddled batter balls of Osaka, are filled with which seafood?

Octopus: tako means octopus, and each batter ball hides a chunk of boiled octopus with pickled ginger and spring onion; street vendor Tomekichi Endo of Aizuya is credited with inventing takoyaki in Osaka in 1935.

Bottarga, the cured roe pouch grated over pasta in Italy, comes chiefly from which fish?

Grey mullet: Sardinian bottarga di muggine is the salted, pressed and dried roe sac of the grey mullet; Sicily makes a stronger version from bluefin tuna, and Greece seals its mullet roe, avgotaracho, in beeswax.

Tobiko, the tiny crunchy orange roe on sushi rolls, is harvested from what?

Flying fish: tobiko is the roe of flying fish (tobiuo), naturally red-orange with a crisp pop; it is often tinted with squid ink (black), yuzu (pale yellow) or wasabi (green), and is larger than capelin roe, masago.

Which creature is sold dried across Asia as bêche-de-mer or trepang?

Sea cucumber: bêche-de-mer (from Portuguese bicho do mar, 'sea worm') and the Malay-derived trepang are trade names for dried sea cucumber, boiled, gutted and sun-dried, then rehydrated for days before cooking in Chinese banquets.

Deep-fried breaded clams are credited to 'Chubby' Woodman of which Massachusetts town?

Essex: Lawrence 'Chubby' Woodman is said to have fried the first batch on 3 July 1916 at his roadside stand in Essex, Massachusetts, using clams he dug from the nearby flats; Woodman's of Essex grew from that stand.

Which Boston restaurant, open since 1826, is the oldest continuously operating in the US?

Union Oyster House: the Union Oyster House on Union Street has served since 1826 and claims the title of America's oldest continuously operating restaurant; Daniel Webster was a regular, reputedly downing six plates of oysters with brandy at a sitting.

Dublin's anthem 'Molly Malone' is also known by the name of which two shellfish?

Cockles and mussels: the refrain 'cockles and mussels, alive, alive-oh' gives the song its alternative title; Molly's statue, unveiled on Grafton Street in 1988 and later moved to Suffolk Street, was quickly dubbed 'The Tart with the Cart'.

Fishmongers famously hurl customers' orders across Pike Place Market in which city?

Seattle: Pike Place Fish Market at Seattle's Pike Place Market began hurling salmon between counter and scale in 1986 as a gimmick to save the near-bankrupt business; a sign warns 'Caution: Low Flying Fish'.

Julia Child's 'culinary revelation' at La Couronne in Rouen centred on which fish dish?

Sole meunière: on 3 November 1948, newly landed at Le Havre, Julia Child ate sole meunière at La Couronne in Rouen and called it 'an opening up of the soul and spirit'; she enrolled at the Cordon Bleu in 1949.

Kedgeree, the British smoked fish and rice plate, descends from which Indian dish?

Khichdi: kedgeree descends from khichdi, an Indian dish of rice and lentils with no fish at all; Anglo-Indian cooks added smoked haddock and eggs, and by the late 19th century it was a British breakfast dish.

Sweden's Jansson's temptation layers potato, onion and cream with which pickled fish?

English recipes often get it wrong because Swedes have called spiced pickled sprats 'ansjovis' since the mid-19th century.

She-crab soup, the Charleston speciality, traditionally gets its orange tint from what?

Roe: the orange roe of gravid female blue crabs colours and flavours she-crab soup; the dish is credited to William Deas, cook to Charleston mayor R. Goodwyn Rhett, in the early 1900s, finished with a splash of dry sherry.

Frogmore stew, the one-pot shrimp boil, is named after a community in which state?

South Carolina: Frogmore is a community on St Helena Island near Beaufort, South Carolina; Richard Gay of the Gay Fish Company is credited with naming the one-pot boil of shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes in the 1960s.

Whitstable, shipping oysters to Rome two thousand years ago, is in which English county?

Kent: Whitstable sits on the north Kent coast, and its 'native' oysters were shipped to Rome in the first century AD; at the 1850s peak the town's companies sent about 80 million oysters a year to Billingsgate market.

Belon oysters take their name from a river estuary in which French region?

Brittany: Belon oysters are named for the Belon river estuary in Finistère, Brittany; they are European flat oysters, Ostrea edulis, whose weak hinge means they are often sold with a rubber band holding the shell shut.

The blue crab's species name, Callinectes sapidus, ends in the Latin for what?

It is Maryland's largest commercial fishery, and University of Maryland scientists finished sequencing its genome in 2021 after six years of work.

Which is the only tuna that may be sold in the US as 'white meat tuna'?

Albacore: US rules allow only albacore (Thunnus alalunga) to be labelled 'white meat tuna', other species being 'light'; Albert Halfhill's experimental 700-case pack of albacore at San Pedro in 1903 launched American tuna canning.

Percebes, harvested at great risk on Galician cliffs, are what kind of creature?

Goose barnacles: percebes are the stalked goose barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes, prised from wave-battered rocks by percebeiros; the genus name means 'thumb-foot', and they are boiled briefly in salted water and served hot under a napkin.

Which country's national fish is the hilsa, an oily relative of the herring?

Bangladesh: the hilsa, or ilish, is Bangladesh's national fish, and the Padma-Meghna delta yields most of the world's catch; ilish is the centrepiece of Bengali feasts such as the Pahela Baishakh new year.

Singapore's chilli crab is usually served with which buns for mopping up the sauce?

Mantou: deep-fried or steamed mantou, plain Chinese buns, are served for mopping up the sweet-savoury gravy; the dish traces to a 1956 pushcart run by Cher Yam Tian and her husband, who stir-fried crabs in bottled chilli and tomato sauce.

Thailand's tom yum kung takes the 'kung' in its name from which ingredient?

Prawns: kung (goong) is Thai for prawns or shrimp, so tom yum kung is the prawn version of the hot-and-sour lemongrass soup; tom yum gai uses chicken and tom yum pla uses fish.

What is the traditional name for a large, mature sardine, especially one landed in Cornwall?

Pilchard: pilchard is the traditional name for a mature sardine, Sardina pilchardus; Cornwall's fishery once salted and pressed millions for export to Italy, and the rebranded 'Cornish sardine' won EU protected status.

Laksa, the spicy coconut noodle soup of Southeast Asia, originated in which cuisine?

Peranakan: laksa is credited to the Peranakan (Nyonya) kitchens of the Straits Chinese, who married Chinese noodles with Malay coconut, chilli and spice; one etymology traces the name to Persian lakhsha, 'slippery', a word for noodles.

Ciguatera poisoning from reef fish is known for which bizarre symptom?

Hot and cold feel reversed: ciguatera's signature is temperature reversal, where cold objects feel hot or burning; the toxin is made by the dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus on coral and builds up in barracuda, grouper and moray eel.