What Is the Difference Between Fish and Seafood?

Fish and seafood are both things you can eat from water, but fish is just one type of seafood.

Imagine you're at a big buffet near the ocean. The fish section has juicy salmon, flaky cod, and bouncy shrimp. But seafood is like the whole buffet, it includes not only fish but also crabs, clams, oysters, mussels, and even squid! So fish is like a specific dish, while seafood is the whole menu.

If something lives in the water, like the ocean or a lake, and you can catch it to eat, it’s seafood. That means fish are definitely seafood, but so are shellfish (like clams and crabs) and even some creatures that aren’t fish at all.

Sometimes people say "I love seafood" when they mean they like eating from the ocean. But if you're talking about a specific type of food, like your favorite dinner, you might say, "I love salmon." That’s fish, and it's also seafood!

So fish is part of the big seafood family, just like apples are part of the fruit family.