Meat vs. Fish — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman — Updated on September 21, 2023
Meat refers to the flesh of land animals, while Fish is the flesh of water-dwelling creatures. While both Meat and Fish are dietary staples across cultures, their characteristics, sources, and nutritional contributions vary widely.
Difference Between Meat and Fish
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Meat and Fish, both sources of protein, differ in their origin and nutritional profile. Meat typically comes from land animals like cows, pigs, and chickens.
In contrast, Fish is obtained from creatures that live in water, such as salmon, cod, and tuna. Nutritionally, Meat often contains higher levels of saturated fats, while Fish, especially fatty varieties, boast omega-3 fatty acids beneficial for heart health. People's dietary preferences or restrictions might lead them to choose Meat over Fish or vice versa.
For instance, pescatarians consume Fish but avoid Meat. Culinary practices also differ, with Meat often requiring longer cooking times than Fish, which cooks relatively quickly.
Comparison Chart
Source
Land animals (e.g., cows, pigs)
Water-dwelling creatures (e.g., salmon, cod)
Nutritional
Higher in saturated fats
Rich in omega-3 fatty acids
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Dietary Practice
Consumed by omnivores, avoided by vegetarians and pescatarians
Consumed by omnivores and pescatarians
Cooking Time
Generally requires longer cooking time
Cooks relatively quickly
Texture
Firmer, varies with preparation
Flakier and varies based on the type of Fish
Compare with Definitions
Meat
Source of protein and essential nutrients.
The Meat in his diet provided ample protein.
Fish
A source of essential omega-3 fatty acids.
Eating Fish regularly can be beneficial for heart health.
Meat
Edible flesh from animals.
She grilled the Meat until it was perfectly tender.
Fish
Can be freshwater or saltwater based.
The chef prefers using saltwater Fish for certain recipes.
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and killed animals for meat since prehistoric times.
Fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups.
Meat
The edible flesh of animals, especially that of mammals as opposed to that of fish or poultry.
Fish
A limbless cold-blooded vertebrate animal with gills and fins living wholly in water
The huge lakes are now devoid of fish
Meat
The edible part, as of a piece of fruit or a nut.
Fish
A person who is strange in a specified way
He is generally thought to be a bit of a cold fish
Meat
The essence, substance, or gist
The meat of the editorial.
Fish
A flat plate that is fixed on a beam or across a joint in order to give additional strength.
Meat
(Slang) Something that one enjoys or excels in; a forte
Tennis is his meat.
Fish
Catch or try to catch fish, typically by using a net or hook and line
He was fishing for pike
I've told the girls we've gone fishing
Meat
Nourishment; food
"Love is not all.
Fish
Search by groping or feeling for something concealed
He fished for his registration certificate and held it up to the policeman's torch
Meat
The human body regarded as an object of sexual desire.
Fish
Mend or strengthen with a fish.
Meat
The genitals.
Fish
Join (rails in a railway track) with a fishplate.
Meat
(uncountable) The flesh (muscle tissue) of an animal used as food.
A large portion of domestic meat production comes from animals raised on factory farms.
The homesteading teenager shot a deer to supply his family with wild meat for the winter.
Fish
Any of numerous cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates characteristically having fins, gills, and a streamlined body and including the bony fishes, such as catfishes and tunas, and the cartilaginous fishes, such as sharks and rays.
Meat
(countable) A type of meat, by anatomic position and provenance.
The butchery's profit rate on various meats varies greatly.
Fish
Any of various jawless aquatic craniates, including the lampreys and hagfishes.
Meat
Food, for animals or humans, especially solid food. See also meat and drink.
Fish
The flesh of such animals used as food.
Meat
A type of food, a dish.
Fish
(Informal) A person, especially one considered deficient in something
A poor fish.
Meat
(archaic) A meal.
Fish
To catch or try to catch fish.
Meat
(obsolete) Meal; flour.
Fish
To look for something by feeling one's way; grope
Fished in both pockets for a coin.
Meat
(uncountable) Any relatively thick, solid part of a fruit, nut etc.
The apple looked fine on the outside, but the meat was not very firm.
Fish
To seek something in a sly or indirect way
Fish for compliments.
Meat
(slang) A penis.
Fish
To catch or try to catch (fish).
Meat
(colloquial) The best or most substantial part of something.
We recruited him right from the meat of our competitor.
Fish
To catch or try to catch fish in
Fish mountain streams.
Meat
(sports) The sweet spot of a bat or club (in cricket, golf, baseball etc.).
He hit it right on the meat of the bat.
Fish
To catch or pull as if fishing
Deftly fished the corn out of the boiling water.
Meat
(slang) A meathead.
Throw it in here, meat.
Fish
(countable) A cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills.
Salmon is a fish.
The fishmonger sells fishes from all over the world.
Ichthyologists study the fish of the world.
We have many fish in our aquarium.
Meat
(Australian Aboriginal) A totem, or (by metonymy) a clan or clansman which uses it.
Fish
Any animal (or any vertebrate) that lives exclusively in water.
Meat
Food, in general; anything eaten for nourishment, either by man or beast. Hence, the edible part of anything; as, the meat of a lobster, a nut, or an egg.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, . . . to you it shall be for meat.
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you.
Fish
(Newfoundland) Cod; codfish.
Meat
The flesh of animals used as food; esp., animal muscle; as, a breakfast of bread and fruit without meat.
Fish
(uncountable) The flesh of the fish used as food.
The seafood pasta had lots of fish but not enough pasta.
Though Lena is a vegetarian, she doesn't have any problem with eating fish.
Meat
Dinner; the chief meal.
Fish
(uncountable) A card game in which the object is to obtain cards in pairs or sets of four (depending on the variation), by asking the other players for cards of a particular rank.
Meat
To supply with food.
His shield well lined, his horses meated well.
Fish
A woman.
Meat
The flesh of animals (including fishes and birds and snails) used as food
Fish
An easy victim for swindling.
Meat
The inner and usually edible part of a seed or grain or nut or fruit stone;
Black walnut kernels are difficult to get out of the shell
Fish
A bad poker player. Compare shark (a good poker player).
Meat
The choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience;
The gist of the prosecutor's argument
The heart and soul of the Republican Party
The nub of the story
Fish
A makeshift overlapping longitudinal brace, originally shaped roughly like a fish, used to temporarily repair or extend a spar or mast of a ship.
Meat
Can come from various animals like cows and pigs.
The Meat aisle had cuts from different animals.
Fish
(nautical) A purchase used to fish the anchor.
Meat
Subject to various cooking methods.
She loves the smoky flavor of barbecued Meat.
Fish
A torpedo self-propelled explosive device.
Meat
Differentiated by cuts and parts.
He chose the leanest cut of Meat available.
Fish
(zoology) A paraphyletic grouping of the following extant taxonomic groups:
Fish
Class Myxini, the hagfish (no vertebrae)
Fish
Class Petromyzontida, the lampreys (no jaw)
Fish
Within infraphylum Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates (also including Tetrapoda))
Fish
(cartomancy) The thirty-fourth Lenormand card.
Fish
(prison slang) A new (usually vulnerable) prisoner.
Fish
A male homosexual; a gay man.
Fish
A period of time spent fishing.
The fish at the lake didn't prove successful.
Fish
An instance of seeking something.
Merely two fishes for information told the whole story.
Fish
(obsolete) A counter, used in various games.
Fish
(intransitive) To hunt fish or other aquatic animals in a body of water.
We went fishing for crabs by the pier.
She went to the river to fish for trout.
Fish
(transitive) To search (a body of water) for something other than fish.
They fished the surrounding lakes for the dead body.
Fish
To use as bait when fishing.
Fish
(intransitive) To (attempt to) find or get hold of an object by searching among other objects.
Why are you fishing through my things?
He was fishing for the keys in his pocket.
Fish
To talk to people in an attempt to get them to say something, or seek to obtain something by artifice.
The detective visited the local pubs fishing around for more information.
The actors loitered at the door, fishing for compliments.
Fish
Of a batsman, to attempt to hit a ball outside off stump and miss it.
Fish
To repair (a spar or mast) by fastening a beam or other long object (often called a fish) over the damaged part (see Noun above).
Fish
To hoist the flukes of.
Fish
A counter, used in various games.
Fish
A name loosely applied in popular usage to many animals of diverse characteristics, living in the water.
Fish
An oviparous, vertebrate animal usually having fins and a covering scales or plates. It breathes by means of gills, and lives almost entirely in the water. See Pisces.
Fish
The twelfth sign of the zodiac; Pisces.
Fish
The flesh of fish, used as food.
Fish
A purchase used to fish the anchor.
Fish
To attempt to catch fish; to be employed in taking fish, by any means, as by angling or drawing a net.
Fish
To seek to obtain by artifice, or indirectly to seek to draw forth; as, to fish for compliments.
Any other fishing question.
Fish
To catch; to draw out or up; as, to fish up an anchor.
Fish
To search by raking or sweeping.
Fish
To try with a fishing rod; to catch fish in; as, to fish a stream.
Fish
Any of various mostly cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates usually having scales and breathing through gills;
The shark is a large fish
In the livingroom there was a tank of colorful fish
Fish
The flesh of fish used as food;
In Japan most fish is eaten raw
After the scare about foot-and-mouth disease a lot of people started eating fish instead of meat
They have a chef who specializes in fish
Fish
(astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Pisces
Fish
The twelfth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about February 19 to March 20
Fish
Seek indirectly;
Fish for compliments
Fish
Catch or try to catch fish or shellfish;
I like to go fishing on weekends
Fish
Aquatic creatures consumed as food.
They grilled the Fish with herbs and lemon.
Fish
Varies widely in species and flavor.
The Fish market offers a variety of options, from salmon to mackerel.
Fish
Often has a flaky texture when cooked.
The Fish was so tender that it flaked apart easily.
Common Curiosities
Why is red Meat considered less healthy than white Meat?
Red Meat typically has higher saturated fat content, which, in excess, can affect heart health.
Can Meat be plant-based?
There are plant-based products that mimic the taste and texture of Meat, but they aren't Meat from animals.
Are shellfish considered Fish?
Shellfish are aquatic animals but are categorized differently from finned Fish.
Is Meat only from mammals?
No, Meat can come from various animals, including birds like chickens.
Can Fish help improve brain health?
Yes, the omega-3 fatty acids in Fish are known to benefit brain health.
Are organ Meats nutritious?
Yes, organ Meats are often rich in vitamins and minerals.
Can Meat be eaten raw?
Some Meats can be consumed raw in dishes like tartare, but they must be fresh and properly handled.
Is Fish considered Meat during religious fasting?
In some religious practices, Fish is allowed during fasting when Meat is abstained from.
How should Meat be stored for safety?
Meat should be refrigerated or frozen and consumed before its expiration date.
Should I be concerned about mercury in Fish?
Some Fish, like certain tuna, can have higher mercury levels. It's good to be informed and consume in moderation.
Why is Meat sometimes aged?
Aging Meat can enhance its flavor and tenderness.
Are all Fish safe to eat?
While many Fish are edible, some may contain toxins or be overfished and are best avoided.
How do I know if Fish is fresh?
Fresh Fish should have a clean smell, clear eyes, and firm, shiny flesh.
How long can Meat and Fish be stored in the freezer?
While it varies, Meat can be stored for several months, and Fish for up to six months, in a well-functioning freezer.
What are oily or fatty Fish?
Oily Fish, like salmon and mackerel, have higher levels of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
