Argentine. A small marine fish with silvery scales similar to a sardine or a smelt. It is usually grilled or fried.
Red mullet or surmullet. A high quality fish of a different family from the other (grey) mullets, and which has a far better flavour and lean, firm flesh. Its liver is highly prized. Do not confuse it with gurnard, which has a slightly paler colour. This fish may vary from pinkish-reddish crimson to rosy pink in colour with golden streaks and two long barbels on the chin. Mullus barbatus is the smaller of the two and is of not quite such good quality. Mullus surmuletus is more properly known as surmullet and is larger.
Conger eel, sea eel. The crustaceans and fish which form its diet contribute to its own good flavour. It is usually sold in steaks. It has few bones and good firm flesh with excellent flavour. The neck end has a better ratio of flesh to bone so is better for cooking as steaks, whereas the tail end, which is bonier, makes a useful addition to soups and stocks.
Mantis shrimp. Squill. A flat tailed crustacean with a delicate flavour found from the eastern coast of North America to the Adriatic and Mediterranean. It is related to a crab rather than a prawn and bears some resemblance to a praying mantis, a kind of flat lobster which makes a chirp like a cricket and has lilac marks on its white flesh.
Murex. A knobbly sea snail or whelk. This mollusc was the source of the rare and expensive imperial purple.
