Fish or Fishes?

Marsha asks:
Please tell me the plural of fish. In the dictionary it says plural is fish or fishes. When I look in the encyclopedia they use the term fishes a lot.

"Fish" is one of those odd words that's usually both singular and plural—like "deer" and (in Canada) "beer." So we can say:

We caught five fish.
We saw three deer.
We Canadians drank six beer. (See my additional comments in the continuation of this post.)

But we can use "fishes" when we are talking about different species:

The fishes of the Fraser River include salmon and sturgeon.

Speaking about "two beer" and "two beers"—most languages have odd little local differences that can turn into dialects and eventually into distinct languages. Canadian usage permits "beer" as a plural; American usage, as far as I know, does not.

Linguists call the line between two such usages an "isogloss" (literally, "same language"). Just as an isobar on a weather map describes a region of equal air pressure, an isogloss describes a region where most people follow a particular usage or pronunciation. In the "beer" example, the isogloss runs right along the US-Canadian boundary.

Similarly, isoglosses separate British "lorry" and North American "truck," and Californian "fender bender" and Tennessee "car smash" (a usage that scared me when I had to drive on the icy streets of Memphis long ago, and the papers warned of smashes galore).

I suspect isoglosses also exist between social classes and generations. My generation uses "said" for "said." My students use "like":

"So Crawford is like, 'We have a quiz on Monday,' and I'm like, 'Omigod, I can't be there!"

Comments

[Shiela]

Is it proper to say "I feel nausiated" or "I feel nautious?"

[anonny]

I feel fish, literally.

[Stuart]

Ichthyologists tend to use "fish" to describe multiple individuals of the same species and "fishes" to describe individuals of different species. Check out this article: "http://mrcarlton.net/blog/?p=20"

[ratna]

Fish?

[marci x]

i think it is fish and fishes, both are gramatically correct so tell my friend laura tullett that she is wrong because she it is fish but it could be fishes too so hahaha

[marci x]

im bored, history is so boring, mr elders, my history teacher bores me to tears, btw, i love fishes, lol. i love guppys!!!!!

[Calypsofish]

As a professional ichthyologist I concur that in general English ( as opposed to US or Canadian) usage fish is the singular or plural apertaining to a single type or species.
Fishes is the plural where two or more different species / types are referred to

[one_bright_cookie]

As a professional knower of all things, I think I've got this one covered:

More than one fish in a pan = fish

More than one fish in the ocean = fishes

[Samuel]

fish = food
fishes = multiple individual animals.

[Usedtobgop]

This is all very fishy.

[劉建宏]

I have benefited greatly from this article.

[DissertationIn1]

I guess if we go by what was taught to us, fishes is not the correct form. But i think language change does happen with change in boundaries!!

[Judge]

There's another important usage of "fishes" - the possessive plural. If you say "the fish's eyes" you will be understood to be referring to one individual. To use the plural possessive you need to write "the fishes' eyes". This is true whether you are referring to one species or more than one.
Example: "Prepare four red mullet. If you use a sharp knife you will find the fishes' scales come off easily."

[Stuart Skeggs]

The plural of fish is fish, no doubt about it 100%. All you dithering lexicographers who say it is alright to say fishes please just get off the fence and kiss my a*** now, because it isn't OK. by any means. I can't stress this strongly enough it is fish, and anyone that disagrees with me on this is nothing but an idiot.

[Brian Dawe]

The plural of fish is fish.

Fishes is a word but it's not used in this way.

John fishes off the pier and catches five fish.