Hebrew to English Translation of Fish Names 16

21 Feb 2005   | Fish · Kosher · Mid Eastern

Israelis use completely different names for fish to those I’m used to so I thought a wee table would help.

English Name Hebrew Name שמות בעברית
Bass Bass בס
Grey Mullet Buri בורי
Grouper Loqus לוקוס
Red Drum Musar מוסר
Red Mullet Barbuniah ברבוניה
Sea Bass Levraq לברק
Sea Bream Denis דניס
St Peter’s Fish Mushte מושט
Trout Forell פורל
Hake / Cod Bakala ??
Nile perch Nesikhat Hanilus ??

16 thoughts on “Hebrew to English Translation of Fish Names”

  1. Reply Baruch Sienna Feb 12,2016 8:50 am

    Very helpful. Thanks. The Hebrew for grouper looks like two letters are missing. לוקוס

  2. Reply Anny Smith May 2,2016 3:49 pm

    What is the name for blue-eye trevally (or trevella) fish in Hebrew?

  3. Reply Shira May 6,2017 6:15 pm

    Thank you!

  4. Reply Tzvi May 10,2017 8:11 am

    Concise and very helpful. Thanks. The Hebrew for trout is correctly transliterated from the Hebrew as forell but the Hebrew word is missing a letter and should appear as פורל .

  5. Reply Seree May 11,2017 12:30 pm

    Great list – I got stuck with a name and this really helped! You might want to add two more very common fish in Israel: bakala as hake / cod, and nesikhat hanilus – Nile perch

  6. Reply Hagar Oct 14,2017 11:07 am

    Thank you 🙂

  7. Reply Pnina Nov 4,2017 11:55 am

    Thanks heaps. Very helpful

  8. Reply Itzik May 31,2018 5:40 am

    What is the name for zander fish in Hebrew?

  9. Reply Laurie Sep 1,2018 8:58 am

    I just saw זהבון (zahavon) in the store, which sounds like a big gold fish. What is it?

  10. Reply MIchelle Rosch Sep 21,2018 7:42 pm

    I don’t think that baklava is hake ,or cod . Balalaika is merlan in French , and it translates to whiting . I bought cod under the name shibut. , but don’t know if I is correct I also don’t think of and hake area the same fish.

    • Reply Steven Thomas Oct 5,2018 2:34 pm

      I confess I’m a bit confused by Bakala myself. It translates to both cod and hake. Which are different fish.

  11. Reply Peter Stern Mar 14,2019 6:30 am

    Michelle should proofread what she posts to see what her spellchecker has done 😊. Baklava is a sweet dessert pastry. And balailaika is a stringed Russian instrument. Hake and cod are not the same fish, but hake is in the same taxonomic order (Gadiformes) as cod and haddock (and whiting). Most hake are in a different family than cod (cod, haddock, whiting and pollock are all in the same family), but a couple of hake species are in a subfamily of the cod family which may be the source of the confusion (of why בקלה gets translated to cod and hake).
    Nile Perch -> נסיכת הנילוס which literally means Princess of the Nile.

  12. Reply Paul Dec 4,2019 10:01 am

    what is the english name for musar sela ?

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