Fish is the plural of fish...

There are instances where fishes is appropiate, I can't remember when it is but it has something to do with referring to them in a certain way, I've got a book that explains it so I'll go take a look.
 
Almost all of my books use 'fishes' at some point, including the Baensch atlases....
 
Actually, Fish is also use as the plural. But i don't care. In chinese they got one word only and don't care how many they are.
 
OK Fish is used when you are refering to plural fish of the same species. As in " There are a lot of fish in that tank" and the tank has only goldfish or only angelfish,etc. Fishes is used when refering to many fish of defferent species as in "There are alot of fishes in the sea" Hope that clears it up some
 
FishFreak said:
OK Fish is used when you are refering to plural fish of the same species. As in " There are a lot of fish in that tank" and the tank has only goldfish or only angelfish,etc. Fishes is used when refering to many fish of defferent species as in "There are alot of fishes in the sea" Hope that clears it up some
i beleive that is also supposed to say "There are alot of fish in the sea."
"fishes" is a term used as slang when expressing a mothering love towards your fish
also used when trying to sound cute ;)


*EDIT*
when reffering to there being alot of species of fish, you would simply say
"There are many different fish species in the sea." :p
 
I think it's along the same lines as using "persons of interest" in place of "people of interest." The former indicates that you are interested in more than one individual while the latter describes a a group. At least that's one term the "war on terror" has thrust into daily usage.

At least it's not as bad as "it's" vs. "its," "there" vs. "their," and so on....
 
J_acon said:
Actually, Fish is also use as the plural. But i don't care. In chinese they got one word only and don't care how many they are.
that is crap tense is used in combination with other words such as if i wanted to say computers it would be the computers (well the equivilant of that anyways)
 
diVer said:
There are instances where fishes is appropiate, I can't remember when it is but it has something to do with referring to them in a certain way, I've got a book that explains it so I'll go take a look.
I think "Fishes" is appropriate in this example:
The fishes referred to as abatanoids all have the ability to breath air from the surface of the water.
 
J_acon said:
Actually, Fish is also use as the plural. But i don't care. In chinese they got one word only and don't care how many they are.
There's not a singular or plural form for fish in chinese, but they do have a way of saying (on the grammar structure) that it's one fish, several fish or many fish they are talking about.
 
Fish refers to multiple fish "lots of fish"
Fishes refers to multiple types of fish "fishes from different areas have different needs"

Thats just in the US thought (on the other side of the pond they say maths and that buggs me but I deal with it)

As far as how a common phrase goes I don't think it matters the majority of people don't know what they are saying and chances are the person who told you that phrase doesn't know what they are saying either. besides I have heard that paraphrased atleast 8 different ways, they can't all be the one true way to say it.
 
I stand by this definition: Fish: plural of one species. Fishes: plural of many species. I distinctly recall learning that in school. And as I'm a stickler for grammar and proper use of terms, I remembered it quite well. I have a very hard time with those that say they "could care less" when in fact they are trying to say they "couldn't care less." Much different meaning. Maybe it's just in the US?
 

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