海魚 vs 海水魚?

[polysciguy]

is there a difference between 海魚 and 海水魚? like when would you use one vs the other? also not sure if this makes a difference or not “umizakana” doesn’t pull up the kanji while “umisakana” does with my microsoft japanese keyboard

[WaniTsunami]

One is “ocean fish; saltwater fish”. The other is just “saltwater fish”… so yes, definitionally speaking. Are you in a lot of intense convos about fish OP?

[Sushimeomeo]

Based on “the longer, the more polite” unspoken rule in Japanese, I have a feeling 海水魚 is more suitable for academic/scientific/formal contexts. But I’m glad to be corrected if I’m wrong.

[simias]

I find very few hits for 海魚 online, actually many of the pages in the search results use 海水魚 instead.

My ja-ja dictionary uses 海水魚 to define 海魚 but not vice-versa.

I also get the impression that 海魚 is often used to contrast with 川魚(かわうお). 川水魚 is not a word apparently (淡水魚 is) so morphologically it looks nicer to have 海魚 and 川魚 side by side. In fact 海魚 can also be read うみうお apparently, although I don’t see it listed in all dictionaries.

Unless you intend to work in the Japanese pisciculture industry, I doubt that all these subtle nuances are going to matter much.

@polysciguy

“umizakana” doesn’t pull up the kanji while “umisakana” does with my microsoft japanese keyboard

I think your IME probably just ends up guessing うみ and さかな as two distinct words, the only possible readings of 海魚 are かいぎょ and うみうお as far as I can tell.

[polv]

@polysciguy

“umizakana” doesn’t pull up the kanji while “umisakana” does with my microsoft japanese keyboard

Forvo for 海魚 only reads かいぎょ. Wikipedia page, as well as several Japanese websites, use 海水魚(かいすいぎょ).

For 川魚, the reading appears to default to かわざかな.

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Searching in Youglish got me 海(うみ)の魚(さかな) in addition to 海水魚(かいすいぎょ) (with 川(かわ)の魚(さかな) and 淡水魚(たんすいぎょ) as opposites).