Seafood Covers More Than Fish
Seafood is edible sea creatures. The category matters for allergies, because fish and shellfish are separate risks.
Seafood covers edible creatures from the sea: fish, crustaceans and molluscs. The distinction is not pedantic. Allergy labelling treats fish and shellfish as separate categories, and someone allergic to prawns may eat cod without trouble, because the proteins involved are unrelated.
- Edible sea creatures. *A seafood platter.*
- Shellfish specifically. *Fish and seafood.*
- Seafood as a modifier. *A seafood restaurant.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | seafood | Fresh seafood. |
| Related | shellfish | A shellfish allergy. |
| Related | crustacean | Crustaceans such as crab. |
| Related | mollusc | Molluscs such as mussels. |
| Related | finfish | Finfish species. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The menu is mostly seafood.Uncountable.
- She is allergic to shellfish but not to fish.A common and important distinction.
- Buy seafood from a sustainable source.Certification schemes exist for this.
Seafood categories
- Finfish — cod, salmon, tuna, mackerel
- Crustaceans — crab, lobster, prawns, langoustines
- Bivalve molluscs — mussels, oysters, clams, scallops
- Cephalopods — squid, octopus, cuttlefish
- Gastropods — whelks and winkles
A twentieth-century American compound of *sea* and *food*. British menus long preferred to list fish and shellfish separately.
Is a fish allergy the same as a shellfish allergy?
No. They involve different proteins, and someone allergic to one may safely eat the other. Medical advice should decide.
Are squid and octopus shellfish?
They are molluscs, so in food labelling they usually fall under the shellfish category despite having no shell.