El rape
Every now and then on this Saramago novel I'm reading I come across the word "rape" and I can't figure out what it is, except that it seems to be some creature that lives in the sea. Here is one passage:
No ha tomado pescado, el plato del día era rape, y a él no le gusta el rape, ese bentónico animal marino que vive en fondos arenosos o lodosos, desde el litoral hasta los mil metros de profundidad, un bicho de enorme cabezorra, achatada y armada de fortísimos dientes, con dos metros de largo y más de cuarenta kilos de peso ...
And here is another:
El único sueño que consiguió recordar con alugna precisión era el del paquete postal con un pescado dentro, pero no fue capaz de identificar el pescado, y ahora, apenas despierto, se tranquilizaba a sí mismo pensando que, por lo menos, rape no sería, porque el rape no cabría dentro de la caja.
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I'd be happy knowing that it's some sea creature, but I'm curious as to what's special about it that makes the character dislike or be afraid of it so much.
(PS: I had to change my alias for personal reasons; sorry about that)
10 Answers
Here
I love rape, one of the tastiest fish I know
Do you realize how strange that sentence sounds? 
I love rape, one of the tastiest fish I know. On the picture you can see the texture of the fish once cooked, delicious
Below the fish itself, rather ugly.
Monkfish is used in Scampi.
Heitor, everyone beat me to helping you answer this question. They are also eaten in Greece, where they eat about as much marisco as they do in Spain.
Heitor (formerly known as Aurino)
I work in IT so I'm a bit paranoid about privacy on the internet. I can find a bunch of stuff about myself on the internet simply by searching for "aurino" and another word. It's creepy.
Easy to see why the author would grimace at the thought of eating such an (double)UGLY creature.
The main character in this book (El hombre duplicado) is quite funny, he's full of manias and obsessions, this fish is just one of them. Now that I've seen the picture, it makes perfect sense.
Heitor (formerly known as Aurino):
Enter "monkfish" into your favourite search engine and you get a picture of one UGLY looking fish. I also found that it is variously referred to as the goosefish, anglerfish, or "allmouth" but if it is not all the same fish, it's probably from the same family of UGLY brothers and sisters. Easy to see why the author would grimace at the thought of eating such an (double)UGLY creature.
And yet, I bet there are people who really like it as a food who will think me to be spoiled and too delicate in my view. A chacun son goût !
Regards,
Moe
Here
Yikes! Almost as disgusting as a lobster!
"El rape", at least in Spain, is monkfish, a tasty fish that can be purchased in any fishmonger.
"El rape", at least in Spain, is monkfish, a tasty fish that can be purchased in any fishmonger.
Thanks Lazarus but I already looked up the dictionary; trouble is, I don't know what a monkfish is.
The other "rape" mentioned in some dictionaries is the angler fish, a monster-looking fish.
I hadn't seen this translation before, but it sounds closer to what Saramago is writing about. But again, I don't know what an angler fish is.
