Maltese Fish Names in English

In Malta, lampuka is the dolphinfish, awrata is gilthead seabream and dentici is dentex. This list gives the Maltese name of every species in our encyclopedia that has one on record, with the English and scientific name next to it.

Maltese is written in the Latin alphabet with a few extra letters: ċ, ġ, ħ, ż and the pair għ. Many fish names come from Sicilian and Italian, which is why awrata and lampuka look familiar to Italian speakers. The spelling here follows Malta’s official list of commercial fish names.

Photo	Maltese	English	Scientific name
A
	Aċċola	Greater Amberjack	Seriola dumerili
	Ajkla	Eagle Ray	Myliobatis aquila
	Alalonga	Albacore	Thunnus alalunga
	Arżnella samra	Picarel	Spicara smaris
	Awrata	Gilthead Seabream	Sparus aurata
B
	Baqra	Giant Devil Ray	Mobula mobular
	Barbun imperjali	Turbot	Scophthalmus maximus
	Bażuga	Axillary Seabream	Pagellus acarne
	Bażuga kaħla	Blackspot Seabream	Pagellus bogaraveo
	Bies	Flying Gurnard	Dactylopterus volitans
	Biżu	Bullet Tuna	Auxis rochei
	Boll	Stingray	Dasyatis pastinaca / Bathytoshia centroura
	Burqax	Painted Comber	Serranus scriba
	Burqax tax-xewka	Brown Comber	Serranus hepatus
	Bużaqq	Toothcarp	Aphanius fasciatus
C
	Ċawl	Mediterranean Damselfish	Chromis chromis
	Ċawlun	Mottled Grouper	Mycteroperca rubra
	Ċerna	Dusky Grouper	Epinephelus marginatus
	Ċippullazza tal-għajn	Blackbelly Rosefish	Helicolenus dactylopterus
D
	Denċi ħotbi	Pink Dentex	Dentex gibbosus
	Dentici	Dentex	Dentex dentex
	Dott	Wreckfish	Polyprion americanus
	Dott abjad	Dogtooth Grouper	Epinephelus caninus
	Dott tal-faxxi	White Grouper	Epinephelus aeneus
F
	Fanfru	Pilot Fish	Naucrates ductor
	Fjamma	Red Bandfish	Cepola macrophthalma
G
	Gallinella	Gurnard	Chelidonichthys lucerna / Trigloporus lastoviza
	Gattarell	Small spotted Catshark	Scyliorhinus canicula
	Gattarell tar-Rukkal	Nursehound	Scyliorhinus stellaris
	Għarusa	Mediterranean Rainbow Wrasse	Coris julis
	Gremxula tal-baħar	Atlantic Lizardfish	Synodus saurus
	Gringu	Conger	Conger conger
	Gurbell tal-Qawwi	Shi Drum	Umbrina cirrosa
	Gurbell tork	Brown Meagre	Sciaena umbra
H
	Ħmar	Grey Triggerfish	Balistes capriscus
I
	Imsell	Garfish	Belone belone
	Inċova	Anchovy	Engraulis encrasicolus
K
	Kaħli	Saddled Seabream	Oblada melanura
	Kavall	Chub Mackerel	Scomber japonicus
	Klamar	Squid	Loligo vulgaris
	Kubrit	Little Tunny	Euthynnus alletteratus
	Kurazza	Smooth Hammerhead	Sphyrna zygaena
L
	Lampuka	Coryphaene	Coryphaena hippurus
	Lingwata	Sole	Solea solea
	Lupu	Forkbeard	Phycis phycis
	Luzzu	Barracuda	Sphyraena sphyraena / Sphyraena viridensis
M
	Marlozz	Blue Whiting	Micromesistius poutassou
	Mazzola bla xewka	Smooth hound	Mustelus mustelus
	Mazzola griża	Spiny Dogfish	Squalus acanthias / Squalus blainvillei
	Mengus	Sand Steenbras	Lithognathus mormyrus
	Merluzz	Hake	Merluccius merluccius
	Minnula	Blotched Picarel	Spicara maena
	Mogħza	Sharpsnout Seabream	Diplodus puntazzo
	Morina	Mediterranean Moray	Muraena helena
	Mulett	Flathead Grey Mullet	Mugil cephalus / Chelon labrosus / Chelon ramada
	Murruna	Bluntnose Sixgill Shark	Hexanchus griseus
N
	Nemusa	Round Sardinella	Sardinella aurita
P
	Paġella	Pandora	Pagellus erythrinus
	Pagru	Red Seabream	Pagrus pagrus
	Pappagall	Mediterranean Parrotfish	Sparisoma cretense
	Pastardella	Mediterranean Spearfish	Tetrapturus belone
	Pelamit	Skipjack Tuna	Katsuwonus pelamis
	Petriċa	Anglerfish	Lophius piscatorius / Lophius budegassa
	Pixxiluna	Atlantic Pomfret	Brama brama
	Pixxi San Pietru	John Dory	Zeus faber
	Pixxispad	Swordfish	Xiphias gladius
	Pizzintun	Atlantic Mackerel	Scomber scombrus
	Plamtu	Atlantic Bonito	Sarda sarda
Q
	Qarnita	Octopus	Octopus vulgaris
R
	Raja tal-fosos	Thornback Ray	Raja clavata
	Ruvett	Oilfish	Ruvettus pretiosus
	Rużetta	Pearly Razorfish	Xyrichtys novacula
S
	Sallura	Eel	Anguilla anguilla
	Sardina	Pilchard	Sardina pilchardus
	Sargu	White Seabream	Diplodus sargus
	Sawrella kaħla	Horse Mackerel	Trachurus trachurus / Trachurus mediterraneus
	Sawrella mperjali	Blue Runner	Caranx crysos
	Sawt kbir	Greater Weever	Trachinus draco
	Serra	Leerfish	Lichia amia
	Serran	Comber	Serranus cabrilla
	Serra tas-snien	Bluefish	Pomatomus saltatrix
	Sicċa	Cuttlefish	Sepia officinalis
	Skorfna	Scorpionfish	Scorpaena scrofa / Scorpaena porcus
	Sparlu	Annular Seabream	Diplodus annularis
	Spnotta	Seabass	Dicentrarchus labrax
T
	Tannuta	Black Seabream	Spondyliosoma cantharus
	Tonn	Atlantic Bluefin Tuna	Thunnus thynnus
	Totlu	Broadtail Shortfin Squid	Illex coindetii / Todarodes sagittatus
	Trilja tal-ħama	Red Mullet	Mullus barbatus
	Trilja tal-qawwi	Striped Red Mullet	Mullus surmuletus
V
	Vopa	Bogue	Boops boops
X
	Xilpa	Salema Porgy	Sarpa salpa
	Xirgien	Two banded Seabream	Diplodus vulgaris
Z
	Żiemel tal-baħar	Seahorse	Hippocampus guttulatus / Hippocampus hippocampus
	Żondu	Atlantic Stargazer	Uranoscopus scaber

No fish found with that name.

Fish names in other Mediterranean countries