Is "fishes" the plural form of "fish," or fish is already plural?

Question

Hi everybody

I have a little question about English, it's a pretty easy one , but I'd like to know your opinion

Is "fishes" the plural of "fish," or is fish already plural?

Which one is better?

Is there a rule that tells you when to use ''fish'' & when to use ''fishes''?

I appreciate your help, muchas gracias ^_^

Answer 1

Fish is both singular and plural.

From Wikipedia:

Nouns with identical singular and plural

Some nouns spell their singular and plural exactly alike; some linguists regard these as regular plurals. Many of these are the names of animals:

deer

moose

sheep

bison

salmon

pike

trout

fish

swine

some of these words are new, thanks :) - 00b6f46c, Mar 3, 2011

Answer 2

I believe the word "fish" in English is considered an irregular plural when you are describing more than one (from Wiki) :

The word "fish" itself is troublesome, being generally used as a plural when in the context of food, but forming a regular plural otherwise (thus "three lots of fish and chips", "the industry landed 5,200 tonnes of fish in 1998" but "the order of fishes", "the miracle of the loaves and fishes", the phrase "sleep with the fishes"); usage does vary, however, so that for example the phrase "five fish in an aquarium" might to another native user be "five fishes in an aquarium". Using the plural form fish could imply many individual fish(es) of the same species while fishes could imply many individual fish(es) of differing species....

Probably still clear as mud, huh?

No it's very helpful thanks :) - 00b6f46c, Mar 4, 2011

Answer 3

Fish is plural, but people say fishes sometimes, and children say "fishies". Look at all the pretty fishies. Those aren't fishies they are fishes. No mom, they are fish. Cállate hijo. Nadie le gusta un sabelotodo. Or something like that.

lol thanks Jeezzle :) - 00b6f46c, Mar 3, 2011

Answer 4

Fish is plural - but you will see fishes in some texts such as the Bible.

Thanks Ian :) - 00b6f46c, Mar 3, 2011

Answer 5

Fish is used for the plural much more often than fishes.

Fish will probably never sound odd but fishes sometimes will.

There is no rule that I ever heard of.

thanks sabor :) - 00b6f46c, Mar 4, 2011