What is rohu fish called in English?

Rohu has no separate common English name — it is Labeo rohita, a carp, and 'rohu' is the accepted English usage in Pakistan and India alike. Anyone translating it as 'carp fish' is being loose rather than wrong.

A darker-skinned rohu, not a separate species. The colour comes from the pond bottom the fish grew over rather than from breeding.

What is tilapia called in Urdu?

Tilapia is not native to Pakistan and has no traditional Urdu name — it is simply تلاپیا. Some sellers call it a variety of 'pond fish', which tells you nothing about the species.

Is rawas the same as salmon?

No. Rawas is Indian salmon or threadfin (Eleutheronema tetradactylum), a completely different fish from Atlantic salmon and much cheaper. Both get sold as 'salmon' in Pakistan, so it is worth asking which you are being offered.

What kinds of fish are farmed in Pakistan?

Overwhelmingly the three Indian major carps — rohu, thaila (catla) and mori (mrigal) — usually stocked together in one pond, plus tilapia, and trout in the northern valleys. Everything else on a counter is caught rather than farmed.

What is sardine fish called in Urdu?

Luar (لوآر). Sardinella species landed along the Sindh and Balochistan coast, mostly for fishmeal rather than the table, which is why it is one of the cheapest fish at a Karachi counter.

What is mackerel fish called in Urdu?

Bangra (بانگڑا), also sold as dangri — Indian mackerel, Rastrelliger kanagurta. Do not confuse it with surmai, which is king mackerel and several times the price.

What is pangasius or basa fish in Urdu?

There is no traditional Urdu name — it is simply پنگاسیس. Pangasius is a farmed Southeast Asian catfish imported frozen, and it is what most unnamed 'boneless fish fillet' sold in Pakistan actually is.

What is trout called in Urdu?

ٹراؤٹ — the English name transliterated. Rainbow trout is farmed in the northern valleys of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan; the rest is imported.

What is haddock fish in Urdu?

ہیڈاک, transliterated, because haddock is a North Atlantic fish that is not caught in Pakistani waters and has no local name. It is very rarely genuinely on sale here — white fillet sold under the name is usually pangasius.

Which fish has no bones in Pakistan?

No fish is genuinely boneless, but sole, pangasius (basa) and tilapia fillet cleanly with the fewest bones left, and pomfret has a simple bone structure that is easy to work around. Rohu and thaila are the boniest of the common ones.

Which fish is used for finger fish in Pakistan?

Usually pangasius or another cheap imported whitefish, cut into strips and battered. Occasionally sole or a local whitefish in better restaurants. The batter is a large part of what you are paying for by weight.

Pakistani Fish Names Guide

9 min readFigures reviewed 6 August 2026By Mehran Yusuf

The short answer

Most confusion about fish in Pakistan is a naming problem rather than a fish problem. Rohu is Labeo rohita and has no common English name of its own — it is a carp, and calling it 'rohu fish' in English is the accepted usage. Thaila is catla, mori is mrigal, and surmai is king mackerel. The mahseer (Tor putitora) is Pakistan's national fish, a river species that is not farmed and is not what you buy at a counter. Below is the table we wish had existed when we started farming, with the three fish we raise ourselves photographed and identified properly.

The fish we farm, named properly

These three are ours, so we can be precise about them. Rohu (روہو, Labeo rohita) is the column-feeding carp that most Pakistani households mean by 'fish' — firm, boney in a predictable pattern, and the standard of the freshwater market. Thaila (تھیلا), also written thaila or theila, is catla (Catla catla), the surface feeder with the large head; it grows faster than rohu and is fattier, which makes it better in a long-cooked salan. Tilapia (تلاپیا, Oreochromis niloticus) is not native, is farmed worldwide, and is the mildest and least boney of the three.

Two spellings cause trouble. 'Kala rohu' is not a separate species — it is a darker-skinned rohu, and the darkness comes from the pond bottom rather than from genetics. And mori (Cirrhinus mrigala, mrigal) is the third carp in the standard Pakistani polyculture; it is the bottom feeder, the cheapest of the three, and it is not a lesser fish so much as a differently priced one.

Freshwater fish: Urdu, English and scientific names

River and pond fish, as they are named across the country. Where a fish has no settled English name, the Urdu name is what English-speaking sellers in Pakistan use too, and inventing a translation would help nobody.

Freshwater fish sold in Pakistan. Sindhi usage follows the Urdu name closely for all of these except mori, which is commonly dambhro in Sindh.
English	Urdu	Scientific name	What it is
Rohu	روہو	Labeo rohita	The standard farmed carp. No separate English name.
Thaila / catla	تھیلا	Catla catla	Surface feeder, big head, fattier than rohu
Mori / mrigal	موری	Cirrhinus mrigala	Bottom feeder, third carp of the standard polyculture
Grass carp	گھاس کارپ	Ctenopharyngodon idella	Farmed alongside the Indian carps
Tilapia	تلاپیا	Oreochromis niloticus	Not native; no traditional Urdu name
Pangasius / basa	پنگاسیس	Pangasianodon hypophthalmus	Mostly imported frozen fillet; often sold simply as 'boneless fish'
Singhari (catfish)	سنگھاڑی	Sperata seenghala	Freshwater catfish, scaleless
Mahseer	مہاسیر	Tor putitora	The national fish. Endangered, not farmed.
Trout	ٹراؤٹ	Oncorhynchus mykiss	Northern valleys and imported

Sea fish: Urdu, English and scientific names

The Karachi counter is where the naming gets genuinely difficult, because several quite different fish are sold under the same local name depending on who is selling.

'Salmon' on a Pakistani menu is usually one of two things: imported frozen Atlantic salmon, or rawas, which is locally called Indian salmon and is a completely different fish at a fraction of the price. Neither is a swindle if it is named honestly; both are sold as 'salmon' often enough that it is worth asking.

Sea fish landed at or sold through Karachi. Several of these names cover more than one species depending on the seller.
English	Urdu	Scientific name	What it is
King mackerel / seer	سرمئی (surmai)	Scomberomorus guttatus	The premium steaking fish
Silver pomfret	پاپلیٹ (paplet)	Pampus argenteus	White paplet; black paplet is a different, cheaper species
Indian mackerel	بانگڑا (bangra) / ڈنگری	Rastrelliger kanagurta	Cheap, oily, high in omega-3
Sardine	لوآر (luar)	Sardinella spp.	Largely landed for fishmeal, which keeps it cheap
Tuna (yellowfin)	ٹونا	Thunnus albacares	Most of the catch is exported
Queen fish	سووا (sowa)	Scomberoides commersonnianus	Firm white flesh, often steaked
Indian salmon / threadfin	رواس (rawas)	Eleutheronema tetradactylum	Not salmon and not related to it
Sole	سول	Cynoglossus spp.	Flatfish; almost boneless once filleted
Eel	بام (bam)	Anguilliformes	Sold fresh and dried, at different prices
Prawn / shrimp	جھینگا (jhinga)	Penaeus spp.	Priced by count per kilo, not by weight alone
Crab	کیکڑا (kekra)	Portunus / Scylla spp.
Bangash	بنگش	Applied to several species	Worth asking which fish is meant

Imported fish, and the names on frozen packs

A growing share of the fish sold in Pakistani supermarkets never swam in Pakistani water, and the names on those packs are English trade names rather than anything with an Urdu equivalent. Salmon (سالمن) is Atlantic salmon, farmed and imported frozen. Cod (کاڈ) is imported, expensive, and rarely what is actually served under the name in a restaurant. Haddock (ہیڈاک) — the North Atlantic whitefish this farm takes half its name from — is not caught in Pakistani waters at all and is almost never genuinely on sale here.

The commonest substitution is pangasius, or basa, standing in for any of them. It is a farmed freshwater catfish from Southeast Asia, it is cheap, it is genuinely boneless, and it is what a great deal of 'boneless fish fillet', 'fish finger' and unnamed white fillet in Pakistan actually is. That is not a scandal — it is a reasonable product at a reasonable price — but it is worth knowing when a menu says cod.

What is the national fish of Pakistan?

The mahseer — Tor putitora, the golden mahseer — is Pakistan's national fish. It is a large river carp of the Indus system and the northern rivers, prized by anglers, and it is in serious trouble: dams, water extraction and pressure from fishing have pushed it onto the endangered list.

It is not farmed commercially in Pakistan and it is not what you will find on a counter. If someone offers you mahseer, that is worth a question rather than an order.

Why the names matter when you are buying

Fish is one of the few foods in Pakistan routinely sold under a name that is not quite the fish. Cheaper species get sold under premium names, and imported frozen fillet gets sold under whatever name moves it. Knowing that rawas is threadfin rather than salmon, or that 'boneless fillet' is usually a cheap whitefish rather than the species on the sign, is most of what protects you.

The other half is that a seller who answers the naming question precisely is generally a seller who knows where the fish came from. It is a good test, and it costs nothing to run.

Common questions

What is the national fish of Pakistan?: The mahseer (Tor putitora), a large river carp of the Indus and the northern rivers. It is endangered, is not farmed commercially, and is not sold on ordinary fish counters.
What is rohu fish called in English?: Rohu has no separate common English name — it is Labeo rohita, a carp, and 'rohu' is the accepted English usage in Pakistan and India alike. Anyone translating it as 'carp fish' is being loose rather than wrong.
What is kala rohu?: A darker-skinned rohu, not a separate species. The colour comes from the pond bottom the fish grew over rather than from breeding.
What is tilapia called in Urdu?: Tilapia is not native to Pakistan and has no traditional Urdu name — it is simply تلاپیا. Some sellers call it a variety of 'pond fish', which tells you nothing about the species.
Is rawas the same as salmon?: No. Rawas is Indian salmon or threadfin (Eleutheronema tetradactylum), a completely different fish from Atlantic salmon and much cheaper. Both get sold as 'salmon' in Pakistan, so it is worth asking which you are being offered.
What kinds of fish are farmed in Pakistan?: Overwhelmingly the three Indian major carps — rohu, thaila (catla) and mori (mrigal) — usually stocked together in one pond, plus tilapia, and trout in the northern valleys. Everything else on a counter is caught rather than farmed.
What is sardine fish called in Urdu?: Luar (لوآر). Sardinella species landed along the Sindh and Balochistan coast, mostly for fishmeal rather than the table, which is why it is one of the cheapest fish at a Karachi counter.
What is mackerel fish called in Urdu?: Bangra (بانگڑا), also sold as dangri — Indian mackerel, Rastrelliger kanagurta. Do not confuse it with surmai, which is king mackerel and several times the price.
What is pangasius or basa fish in Urdu?: There is no traditional Urdu name — it is simply پنگاسیس. Pangasius is a farmed Southeast Asian catfish imported frozen, and it is what most unnamed 'boneless fish fillet' sold in Pakistan actually is.
What is trout called in Urdu?: ٹراؤٹ — the English name transliterated. Rainbow trout is farmed in the northern valleys of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan; the rest is imported.
What is haddock fish in Urdu?: ہیڈاک, transliterated, because haddock is a North Atlantic fish that is not caught in Pakistani waters and has no local name. It is very rarely genuinely on sale here — white fillet sold under the name is usually pangasius.
Which fish has no bones in Pakistan?: No fish is genuinely boneless, but sole, pangasius (basa) and tilapia fillet cleanly with the fewest bones left, and pomfret has a simple bone structure that is easy to work around. Rohu and thaila are the boniest of the common ones.
Which fish is used for finger fish in Pakistan?: Usually pangasius or another cheap imported whitefish, cut into strips and battered. Occasionally sole or a local whitefish in better restaurants. The batter is a large part of what you are paying for by weight.