barramundi

[prettygoodword]

barramundi (bar-uh-MUHN-dee) - n., a catadromous bony fish (Lates calcarifer) with a greenish-bronze back and silvery sides of the Indian and West Pacific Oceans.


Valued as a sport and food fish, also called Asian sea bass or giant sea perch. Catadromous means it's a freshwater fish that goes to salt water to spawn (the reverse of the anadromous salmon). Not to be confused with the barramunda, another name for the Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri). The name (for both fish, actually) comes from an indigenous language of central Queensland, but exactly which cannot be determined.


Thanks, WikiMedia!

---L.

Comments

[full_metal_ox]

Nor is either related to the barracuda (Sphyraena spp.), whose name comes by way of Spanish, probably from some Cariban language.

[prettygoodword]

Didn't even think of adding that to the mix. Good one.