Typically, a fish is defined as an aquatic, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fins and a hard skull, but lacking limbs with digits. Fish can be grouped into the more basal jawless fish and the more common jawed fish, the latter including all living cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as the extinct placoderms and acanthodians. In a break to the long tradition of grouping all fish into a single class (Pisces), modern phylogenetics views fish as a paraphyletic group. Here you will find historic recipes for jawless fishes as well as recipes for cartilaginous and bony jawed fish. For the separate list of fish-based recipes see the fish-based recipes page

For my definition of shellfish I'm including molluscs (ie shelled marine animals) as well as sea snails (that are actually gastropods) but I'm excluding crustaceans (eg prawns, lobsters, crayfish, crabs and barnacles) and cephalopod molluscs (squids, octopodes, cuttlefish) which have their own sections and are described below. Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks. Molluscs are the largest marine phylum, comprising about 23% of all the named marine organisms. They are highly diverse, not just in size and anatomical structure, but also in behaviour and habitat, as numerous groups are freshwater and even terrestrial species. For the separate list of shellfish-based recipes see the shellfish-based recipes page.

Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (/krəˈsteɪʃə/), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthropods including decapods (shrimps, prawns, crabs, lobsters and crayfish), seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, opossum shrimps, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The vast majority of crustaceans consumed by humans are decapod crustaceans: crabs, lobsters, shrimp, crayfish, langoustine and prawns. Krill and barnacles are the only non-decapod crustaceans eaten regularly. For the separate list of crustacean-based recipes see the crustacean-based recipes page.

Cephalopods are members of the molluscan class Cephalopoda /sɛfəˈlɒpədə/ (Greek plural κεφαλόποδες, kephalópodes; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles (muscular hydrostats) modified from the primitive molluscan foot. Fishers sometimes call cephalopods "inkfish", referring to their common ability to squirt ink. They are all regularly consumed by humans, particularly squid and octopodes. For the separate list of caphalopod-based recipes see the cephalopod-based recipes page.

Here I'm using a broader definition of seafood to also include items such as sea anemones (that the Romans ate) as well as sea cucumbers (a common ingredient in sushi) and sea urchins (consumed by ancient Romans and Japanese). Essentially covering the range of aquatic animals consumed by humans.

As this site also includes historic recipes, there will be some unusual fish and shellfish in the lists (like weaver fish from ancient Roman cookery) as well as forms of cookery (like clay baking) that are not so commonly used any more. You will see many Ancient Roman recipes in the list, this is due to the Romans' extensive use of liquamen/garum (fish sauce) in their recipes which was typically fermented from marine fish. There are also many Mediaeval recipes presented, coming from when the Catholic church proscribed the eating of meat and there were more 'fish days' in the yearly calendar than there were days where meat could be eaten. This also explains the separation of aquatic animals from terrestrial animals, the former being classed as 'fish' and the latter as 'meat'.