Four Fish 6 European Sea Bass Flashcards
porgy
Porgy is the common name for any fish which belongs to the family Sparidae. They are also called bream. Porgies live in shallow temperate marine waters and are bottom-dwelling carnivores. Most species possess grinding, molar-like teeth.
“Postwar Japan in the 1940s launched an effort ot tame a famous but declining perciform-Pagrus major, or red porgy, another ‘holiday fish’ that any self-respecting Japanese is all but required to have at a formal wedding banquet.”
banquet
an elaborate and formal evening meal for many people, often followed by speeches: the Austrian emperor’s lavish banquets | [ as modifier ] : a banquet table.
“Postwar Japan in the 1940s launched an effort ot tame a famous but declining perciform-Pagrus major, or red porgy, another ‘holiday fish’ that any self-respecting Japanese is all but required to have at a formal wedding banquet.”
self-respect
pride and confidence in oneself; a feeling that one is behaving with honor and dignity.
“Postwar Japan in the 1940s launched an effort ot tame a famous but declining perciform-Pagrus major, or red porgy, another ‘holiday fish’ that any self-respecting Japanese is all but required to have at a formal wedding banquet.”
Middle Ages
the period of European history from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West (5th century) to the fall of Constantinople (1453), or, more narrowly, from c. 1100 to 1453.
The earlier part of the period ( c. 500– c. 1100) or early Middle Ages is sometimes distinguished as the Dark Ages, while the later part ( c. 1100–1453) or high or late Middle Ages is often thought of as the Middle Ages proper.
“Carp are not endemic to Europe. Their cultivation began with the opening of trade with China in the late Middle Ages, which had been launched in Europe to address a fisheries crash that had preceded the declines in the Mediterranean.” (94)
gefilte fish
is an Ashkenazi Jewish dish made from a poached mixture of ground deboned fish, such as carp, whitefish, or pike, which is typically eaten as an appetizer.
Gefilte fish topped with carrot slices
Although the dish historically consisted of a minced-fish forcemeat stuffed inside the fish skin, as its name implies, since the 19th century the skin has commonly been omitted and the seasoned fish is formed into patties similar to quenelles or fish balls
Ashkenazi
a Jew of central or eastern European descent. More than 80 percent of Jews today are Ashkenazim; they preserve Palestinian rather than Babylonian Jewish traditions, and some still use Yiddish.
casus belli
an act or situation provoking or justifying war.
“But carp live in fresh water-an extremely scarce commodity in Israel, often the very casus belli of regional conflict.” (94)
endocrinologist
the branch of physiology and medicine concerned with endocrine glands and hormones.
endocrine
of, relating to, or denoting glands that secrete hormones or other products directly into the blood: the endocrine system.
“It was on Lake Bardawil that a young endocrinologist named Yonathan Zohar was to begin research that would shape the fate of sea bass and, in fact, all fish fro many years to come.” (95)
Strait of Gibraltar
a channel between the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula and North Africa that forms the only outlet of the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 38 miles (60 km) long and varies in width from 15 to 25 miles (24 to 40 km).
“Romans probably made their case for sea bass throughout the continent, for European sea bass have an exceptionally broad range-inhabiting the entirety of the Mediterranean on out ot the Strait of Gibraltar and up the coast of Spain, France, England, the Netherlands, and the Baltic coast of Germany.” (96)
pituitary gland
the major endocrine gland. A pea-sized body attached to the base of the brain, the pituitary is important in controlling growth and development and the functioning of the other endocrine glands.
“Sexual hormones are manufactured in a fish’s pituitary gland, an organ about a quarter of the size of a pea, located inside the bony casement of the fish’s skull. Over the course of the next ten years, Zohar led a team that picked through tens of thousands of fish heads, tweezing out the tiny pituitaries and sending samples around the world for analysis.” (97)
asynchronous spawner
a fish that holds its eggs for many days so that it may spread them out over a variety of terrains and conditions.
“Sea bass are ‘asynchronous spawners,’…It was therefore necessary to hormonally convince sea bass that now is the time, this is the place-lay all your eggs at this very moment, because this is the best bet you’re ever going to get in your entire life.”
polymer
nounChemistry
a substance that has a molecular structure consisting chiefly or entirely of a large number of similar units bonded together, e.g., many synthetic organic materials used as plastics and resins.
“Eventually Zohar’s lab engineered a microscopic polymer-based sphere that would slowly release the hormone into the sea bass’s bloodstream, causing the fish to expel all its eggs and sperm in a single, predictable period.” (99)
Ionian Sea
The Ionian Sea is a part of the Mediterranean Sea positioned south of the Adriatic Sea, and bordered by southern Italy and Sicily in the west, and by Albania and Greece in the east.
“Within sight of Odysseus’s home island of Ithaca, Cephalonia is emerald and olive in its highlands, with wide, foaming rivers that empty into the bluer-than-blue Ionian Sea.” (100)
Cephalonia
a Greek island in the Ionian Sea; pop. 38,000 (est. 2006).
