Why don’t fish from the sea taste salty?

Every cook knows that flounder and cod from the ocean need to be flavored with salt, This seems strange when you remember that these fish take in salt water through their mouths and gills and spend their entire lives in salty baths. The fact is that the body of an ocean fish, like that of a land animal, cannot take in and use the salty chemicals of the ocean.

A fish is covered with a crisp coat of overlapping scales. This keeps out the ocean chemicals that would be dangerous to the inside of his body. He takes from the water only the chemicals he needs and his blood and other body fluids are no saltier than those of a fresh water fish or a land animal.