The Bombay duck or bummalo (Harpadon nehereus, Bengali: bamaloh, Gujarati: bumla, Marathi: bombil) is, despite its name, a lizardfish. It is native to the waters between Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and Kutch in the Arabian Sea, and a small number are also found in the Bay of Bengal. Great number are caught in China Sea, too. The fish is often dried and salted before it is consumed. After drying, the odour of the fish is extremely powerful, and it must consequently be transported in air-tight containers. Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Typical Classes See below Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. ... Orders See text The Actinopterygii are the ray-finned fish. ... Families Suborder Enchodontoidei   Dercetidae (extinct)   Cimolichthyidae (extinct)   Prionolepididae (extinct)   Enchodontidae (extinct)   Eurypholidae (extinct)   Halecidae (extinct)   Apateopholidae (extinct)   Ichthyotringidae (extinct) Suborder Giganturoidei   Giganturidae (telescopefishes) Suborder Aulopoidei   Aulopodidae (aulopus) Suborder Chlorophthalmoidei   Chlorophthalmidae (greeneyes)   Ipnopidae   Scopelarchidae (pearleyes)   Notosudidae (waryfishes) Suborder Alepisauroidei   Synodontidae (lizardfishes)   Pseudotrichonotidae   Paralepididae (barracudinas)   Anotopteridae (daggertooth)   Evermannelidae (sabertooth fishes)   Omosudidae   Alepisauridae... Genera (three, see text) The Synodontidae is a family of fish that are frequently referred to as the lizard fishes. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Dr Francis Buchanan, later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton (February 15, 1762 - June 15, 1829) was a Scottish physician who made significant contributions as a geographer zoologist and botanist while living in India. ... Bengali or Bangla (IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit languages. ... Gujarati (ગુજરાતી GujÇŽrātÄ«; also known as Gujerati, Gujarathi, Guzratee, and Guujaratee[3]) is an Indo-Aryan language descending from Sanskrit, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. ... Marathi is one of the widely spoken languages of India, and has a long literary history. ... Genera Bathysaurus Harpadon Saurida Synodus Trachinocephalus Synodontidae is a family of fishes known as lizardfishes. ... , “Bombay” redirects here. ... Kutch (Kuchchh) District, State of Gujarat Kutch (also spelled Cutch, Kachh, Kachch and even Kachchh) is a district of Gujarat state in western India. ... The Arabian Sea (Arabic: بحر العرب; transliterated: Bahr al-Arab) is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui, the north-east point of Somalia... Look up Bay of Bengal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The China Sea can refer to the: South China Sea, or East China Sea This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Odor receptors on the antennae of a Luna moth An odor is the object of perception of the sense of olfaction. ...

Etymology

The origin of the term "Bombay duck" is uncertain. Some authors advance the theory that, during the British Raj, the fish was often transported by rail after drying. The story goes that the train compartments of the Bombay Dak (in English, the Bombay Mail) would smell of the fish, consequently leading the British to euphemistically refer to the peculiar smell as the "Bombay Dak". A variant of the story is that, though the fish weren't transported on the train, it smelt strongly because of the rotting railway sleepers over which it travelled, and this was thought to resemble the smell of the drying fish. In either case, this was supposedly corrupted into "Bombay duck". Although the likelihood of this origin is questionable, it does have the authority of a BBC Radio 4 interview in August 2006. The flag of British India British India, circa 1860 The British Raj (Raj in Hindi meaning Rule; from Sanskrit Rajya) was the British rule between 1858 and 1947 of the Indian Subcontinent, which included the present-day India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Burma (Myanmar), whereby these lands were under the colonial...

According to local Bangladeshi stories, The term Bombay duck (called "Shootkie" in Sylheti) was first coined by Robert Clive, after tasting a piece during his conquest of Bengal, it is told that he referenced the pungent smell to that of the news papers and mail which would come in to the cantonments from Bombay. The term was later popularised amongst the British public by its appearance in Indian restaurants (which are in fact, mostly Bangladeshi owned) across the country. Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive of Plassey (September 29, 1725 - November 22, 1774) was the statesman and general who established the empire of British India. ...

In cuisine

Despite the rather unpleasant odour of the fish, it is often considered to be a delicacy by connoisseurs of Indian cuisine. If freshly caught, it is sometimes eaten fried in a batter; and in its dried form, it is commonly eaten in a curry. It is also prepared as a pickle. The bones of the fish are soft and easily chewable. A connoisseur (Fr. ... Indian cuisine is distinguished by its sophisticated use of spices and herbs. ... Batter is a thick or thin liquid mixture, usually based on flour, water or milk, and egg. ... Pilau rice, cucumber rhaita and Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi. ... Pickling in India is an ancient art and has been used to preserve food for thousands of years. ...

In Teochew cuisine of China, it is called (Chinese: 佃魚; Pinyin: tiányú), fresh fish of this kind is very common and eaten in fried with flour. It is salted and peppered when eaten. In Hong Kong, it is called (Chinese: 九肚魚; Pinyin: jiŭdùyú) and common, too. Chiuchow cuisine, Teochew cuisine or Chaozhou cuisine (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) originates from Chiuchow (now called Chaozhou), a city of China in Guangdong Province, not far from Guangzhou. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ...

European Union restrictions on imports

In 1997, Bombay Duck was banned by the European Commission (EC) of the European Union. The EC admitted that it had no "sanitary" evidence against the product and the UK Public Health Laboratory Service confirmed that there are no recorded cases of food poisoning, or bacterial contamination, associated with Bombay Duck. It was banned because the EC only allows fish imports from India from approved freezing and canning factories. Bombay Duck is not produced in factories. Year 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar). ... The Commission seat in Brussels The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive body of the European Union. ...

According to "The Save Bombay Duck campaign" [1], the Indian High Commission approached the European Commission about the ban. The EC adjusted the regulations so that the fish can still be dried in the open air but has to be packed in an "EC approved" packing station. Now a Birmingham wholesale merchant has found a packing source in Mumbai/Bombay and the product is again available.

The BBC notes that consumption in the United Kingdom prior to the ban was over 13 tonnes per year. The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ...

Bombay Duck is available fresh in Canada in cities with large Indian populations, such as Toronto and Montreal and is generally known as bumla. Although mainly popular with Indians from southern Gujarat, it is increasingly consumed by the other South Asian populations.

In Music

The popular instrumental rock band, "The Ventures", famous for such tunes as the 1960 hit "Walk, Don't Run", "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue", among countless covers, covered their own rendition of the title "Bombay Duck", and was featured as the closing track of their 1968 album "Pops in Japan No.2". Click on the following link to hear the song: http://jukebox.peterlink.ru/cgi-bin/play.m3u?instrumental/ventures/1968_2:12

References

• Harpadon nehereus (TSN 162425). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 18 April 2006.
• "Harpadon nehereus". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.