French Vocabulary List: Marine Animals and Fishes 🐟🐠🐬
The ocean is full of fascinating creatures, and many of them are common in French culture, cuisine, and daily conversations.
Whether you’re visiting a fish market, going to the aquarium, or talking about the sea, it’s useful to know the French words for marine animals and fishes.
This guide gives you a French vocabulary list of sea animals and fish, with English translations and example sentences.
🌊 General Marine Vocabulary
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La mer – sea
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L’océan – ocean
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Un poisson – fish
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Un mammifère marin – marine mammal
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Les fruits de mer – seafood
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Un coquillage – shellfish / seashell
👉 Example: Il y a beaucoup de poissons dans l’océan Atlantique.
(There are many fish in the Atlantic Ocean.)
🐟 Common Fishes in French
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La sardine – sardine
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Le thon – tuna
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Le saumon – salmon
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La truite – trout
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Le maquereau – mackerel
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La morue – cod
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La sole – sole
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La carpe – carp
👉 Example: Le saumon est un poisson très populaire en France.
(Salmon is a very popular fish in France.)
🦑 Marine Animals & Invertebrates
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Une crevette – shrimp
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Un crabe – crab
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Un homard – lobster
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Une langouste – spiny lobster
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Un poulpe / une pieuvre – octopus
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Un calmar – squid
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Une huître – oyster
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Une moule – mussel
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Une coquille Saint-Jacques – scallop
👉 Example: J’adore manger des moules et des huîtres.
(I love eating mussels and oysters.)
🐬 Marine Mammals in French
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Un dauphin – dolphin
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Une baleine – whale
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Un orque – orca / killer whale
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Un phoque – seal
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Un morse – walrus
👉 Example: Les dauphins sont très intelligents.
(Dolphins are very intelligent.)
🐢 Other Marine Animals
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Une tortue de mer – sea turtle
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Un requin – shark
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Une raie – ray / stingray
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Un hippocampe – seahorse
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Une étoile de mer – starfish
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Un oursin – sea urchin
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Un corail – coral
👉 Example: Les tortues de mer peuvent vivre très longtemps.
(Sea turtles can live a very long time.)
💬 Useful Phrases
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J’ai vu un dauphin dans la mer. – I saw a dolphin in the sea.
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Les pêcheurs ont attrapé beaucoup de thon. – The fishermen caught a lot of tuna.
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Les requins vivent dans l’océan. – Sharks live in the ocean.
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Les enfants ont trouvé une étoile de mer sur la plage. – The children found a starfish on the beach.
🎯 Practice Activity
👉 Write 3–4 sentences in French using different marine animal words. For example:
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La baleine est un très grand mammifère marin.
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Le crabe marche sur le sable.
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Un hippocampe est un petit poisson étrange.
✅ Conclusion
By learning this French vocabulary list of marine animals and fishes, you’ll be ready to talk about the ocean, seafood, and marine life. These French words are useful for travelers, food lovers, and anyone passionate about the sea.
If you enjoyed this, explore more of our French vocabulary lists about animals and nature to keep expanding your knowledge step by step!