Costa Rica has two coasts, so there is plenty of seafood is available everywhere in the country. Corvina (sea bass) is the most commonly served fish and is prepared in a number of ways, including as ceviche (bits of fresh raw fish marinate in lime juice with onions, peppers and spices). Chucheca is a popular bivalve mollusc and dish from Costa Rica’s Puntarenas area. The people who live in Puntarenas are called puntarenenses or in slang, chuchequeros. Chucheca is also a vulgar term that refers to the vaginal part of a woman’s body in Costa Rica.

Fish related words:

Bass – Corvina
Biting – Los peces están picando – The fish are biting
Clams – Almejas
Cod – Bacalao
Crab – Cangrejo
Crayfish – Langostino (fresh water)
Eel – Anguila
Fin – Aletas
Fish – Pez (live), pescado (dead)
Fish store – Pescadería
Fishing line – Sedal
Fishing pole – Caña de pescar\Gills – Agallas
Haddock – Róbalo
Hook – Gancho, anzuelo
Lobster – Langosta
Mackerel – Macerela
Net – La red
Octopus – Pulpo
Oysters – Ostiones / Ostras
Rainbow bass – Guapote
Red snapper – Huachinango
Salmon – Salmón
Sardines – Sardinas
Scales – Escamas (skin)
Seafood restaurant – Marisquería
School of fish – Banco de mariscos
Shark – Tiburón
Shrimps Camarones
Sportsfishing – La pesca deportiva
Sole – Lenguado
Sword fish – Pez espada
Squid – Calamares
To cast – Tirar
To fish – Pescar or ir de pesca. Pescar can also mean to “catch a cold. José pescó un resfriado. Joe caught a cold. Pescar can also mean “to catch” in the following sense. Tengo que pescar a Juan antes de que salga. I have to catch John before he leaves.
Trout – Trucha
Tuna – Atún
Whole fish – Pescado entero which is served in many seafood restaurants

Fishy Tiquismos of the week:

• Algo huele mal – Something smells fishy or there is more than meets the eye. Hay un gato encerrado is another way of saying the same thing.
• Estar calmado como el pescado – to be calm or tranquil
• Estar como una gallina en corral ajeno or estar como pez fuera del agua – to be like a fish out of water
• Pescar en río revuelto – to fish in troubled waters
• Para hablar y comer pescado, hay que tener mucho cuidado – Be careful what you say.
• Pez gordo – literally a fat fish but used to mean an important person or “Big Shot”.