About Fishes
Fish and fishes
Part of a school of several hundred Eastern Australian Salmon. Photo: Sascha Schultz.
A school of Tarwhine at a depth of 12m, South Solitary Island, New South Wales, April 2000.
People often ask about how the terms 'fish' and 'fishes' should be used.
A group of fish of the same species are called fish. Two or more species of fish are called 'fishes'.
For example, a number of Eastern Australian Salmon swimming together can be called a school of fish. But if one Tarwhine starts swimming with the Eastern Australian Salmon they are called fishes.
Books such as the Sea Fishes of Southern Australia and Coastal Fishes of South-Eastern Australia use the term 'fishes', because more than one species of fish are included in the book.
