The Bombay Duck Fish Explained

The Bombay duck is not a duck at all but a slender, almost transparent marine fish, Harpadon nehereus, a lizardfish found in the shallow coastal waters of India’s west coast and across the Indo-Pacific. Locally called bombil in Marathi, it is eaten fresh in Mumbai and the Konkan, and is also salted and sun-dried into a pungent delicacy that travels far beyond the coast.

The fish is soft, gelatinous and short-lived, so it is quite unlike the firm-fleshed species most people expect in a fish market. Its odd English name, its fragile body and its role in fishing communities such as the Kolis make the Bombay duck one of the most distinctive seafoods of the subcontinent.

Quick Facts

Key Takeaways

• The Bombay duck is a fish, Harpadon nehereus, and has no biological relationship to ducks or any other bird.
• Bombil is the Marathi name for the Bombay duck, which is a translucent, scaleless, lizardfish with a large mouth and rows of sharp, slender teeth.
• The flesh of the Bombay duck contains a very high proportion of water, which is why the fish spoils quickly and is so often dried.
• The Bombay duck is caught mostly in the shallow waters off Maharashtra and Gujarat, largely in bag-shaped dol nets set against the tide.
• Fresh Bombay duck is usually fried in a semolina coating or cooked in a spicy coconut or kokum curry, while the dried form is used sparingly as a pungent flavouring.
• Fishing for the Bombay duck is seasonal and uneven, and it depends on estuarine conditions, the monsoon and the gear used.

What Is the Bombay Duck?

The Bombay duck is a lizardfish of the family Synodontidae, scientifically named Harpadon nehereus, that lives in warm shallow seas from the Arabian Sea to the western Pacific. Despite the name, it has no feathers, no bill and no ancestry in common with a duck.

The body is long and nearly cylindrical, with a flattened, pointed head. The skin is soft, loose and semi-transparent, and the fish has a pale, silvery-grey to pinkish tone that can look almost glassy in fresh catches. There are no true scales to speak of, and the fins are small and delicate. A single small adipose fin sits near the tail, a feature shared by many lizardfishes.

The mouth is the most striking feature. It is wide, with a lower jaw that projects slightly, and it is lined with long, slender, needle-like teeth that curve inward. These teeth are useful for gripping slippery prey, which tells us a great deal about how the Bombay duck lives: it is a fast, ambush-style predator, not a gentle grazer.

In everyday speech, the name is sometimes used for both the live or fresh fish and the dried product. It is worth keeping these apart. Fresh bombil is a quick-frying, melt-in-the-mouth fish, whereas dried bombil is a strongly flavoured, salty product that is fried or roasted and eaten in small amounts.

Why Is It Called the Bombay Duck?

The Bombay duck is called by that name because of its long association with Bombay, now Mumbai, where it was landed, dried and shipped, though the exact origin of the word “duck” is not settled. Several explanations are offered and none can be called proven.

• The mail-train story: One popular explanation says dried fish was carried on the “Bombay Dak”, the mail train, and the strong smell led passengers to call it the “Bombay dak” fish, later softened into “Bombay duck”. This is a charming tale and it is widely repeated, yet it remains folklore.
• The word “bummalo”: Another explanation links the English name to “bummalo”, an older term for the dried fish, which may itself come from the Marathi word bombil or a similar Indian-language source.
• Playful colonial naming: Some writers suggest the name is simply a joke from the colonial period, in the way other unlikely food names, such as “Welsh rabbit”, were coined.

What can be said with confidence is that the common name is English, that it is tied to Bombay, and that most people in Mumbai and Konkan use the local name bombil instead. The Bombay duck therefore carries a name that is a little misleading, and many first-time readers are surprised to learn it is a fish.

Where Does the Bombay Duck Live in India?

The Bombay duck lives in shallow, muddy, nutrient-rich waters close to river mouths, and in India it is found chiefly along the coasts of Maharashtra and Gujarat, with a second population in the Bay of Bengal, including the Hooghly estuary in West Bengal. Outside India, the species ranges through the Indo-West Pacific, including Bangladesh and parts of Southeast Asia.

Fishers of the west coast know the best grounds as the waters near Mumbai, Palghar, Dahanu, Satpati and the Saurashtra and Kutch coasts of Gujarat. The fish favours depths of only a few metres to a few tens of metres, over soft bottoms, and it tends to move with the tide and with the salinity of the water.

Because the species depends on estuarine mud and plankton-rich water, the Bombay duck is strongly affected by river flow, silt and coastal conditions. In the Bay of Bengal, it is known by names such as loitta or loita, and it is dried in a similar way. In a sense, the Bombay duck is a fish of the meeting point between river and sea.

What Does the Bombay Duck Eat?

The Bombay duck is a carnivore that eats mainly small fish, shrimps and other crustaceans, hunting in the water column close to the sea floor. Its long, sharp teeth and wide gape let it seize and swallow prey whole.

Young Bombay duck feed on small planktonic animals and tiny crustaceans, and they move on to larger prey as they grow. Adults often prey on juvenile fish and on small shrimps that are also valuable to people, so the species sits in a mid-level position in the coastal food web. In turn, larger fish, sea birds and fishing communities all consume it.

This predatory habit is one of the reasons the fish grows quickly. Rapid growth and a short life span are common in species that live in productive, changeable coastal habitats, and the Bombay duck fits that pattern well.

How Does the Bombay Duck Breed and Grow?

The Bombay duck spawns in coastal waters, releasing eggs that drift in the plankton, and it grows quickly and lives only a short time, so most of the fish caught are young adults of one to two years. Exact spawning peaks vary with location and are best described qualitatively, because they shift with temperature, rainfall and salinity.

After hatching, the larvae drift with the currents and slowly move toward shallow, estuarine nursery areas. There they find the plankton and small crustaceans they need. Within a year, many individuals reach a size suitable for fishing.

Fishery scientists in India have long observed that Bombay duck catches rise and fall from season to season. These swings are linked partly to fishing effort and partly to environmental conditions. Short-lived, fast-growing species such as this one can recover quickly when conditions are good, but the same traits make their landings unpredictable, which is a point to keep in mind when reading any report about a record or poor year.

How Is the Bombay Duck Caught?

The Bombay duck is caught mainly with the dol net, a long conical bag net that is fixed to stakes or anchored in tidal waters so that the current pushes fish into the closed end. The method suits a soft, free-swimming fish that moves with the tide.

A dol net fishery works as follows:

• The open mouth of the net faces the current, and it is held in place by anchors or poles.
• As the tide flows, fish are carried into the narrowing net and gather in the end, known as the cod end.
• Fishers lift or empty the net at slack tide, and the catch is sorted on the boat or on the beach.
• Fresh fish are sent quickly to local markets, while the surplus goes to drying yards.

The dol net is traditionally associated with the coasts of Gujarat and northern Maharashtra and is also used in West Bengal. Because the net strains out many small organisms along with the target fish, fisheries managers monitor mesh size and fishing seasons. Across the west coast, a seasonal ban on mechanised fishing during the monsoon months, generally from June to July, protects spawning and young fish and gives boats and fishing communities a period of rest.

How Is Bombay Duck Dried?

Bombay duck is dried by cleaning the fresh fish, lightly salting it if needed, and hanging it in rows on bamboo frames, ropes or racks in the sun and sea breeze for several days, until the soft flesh becomes firm and brittle. The process is simple, but it is carried out at a very large scale on parts of the Maharashtra coast.

The drying is necessary because fresh bombil is about ninety per cent water. Such a watery fish deteriorates fast in the heat, and in the days before widespread refrigeration, sun-drying was the only practical way to keep and trade it. The scene of hundreds of pale, ribbon-like fish hanging in long curtains from bamboo scaffolds at coastal villages is one of the most recognisable sights of the Konkan shore.

The finished product has a very strong smell, and people who dislike it often compare it to pungent cheese. Those who enjoy it describe a salty, savoury, almost umami taste. Dried bombil is usually fried or grilled until crisp, crushed, and eaten in small quantities as an accompaniment to rice, dal or fish curry.

Hygiene and storage matter for the dried form. Poorly dried or badly stored fish can spoil, develop moulds or attract insects. Import rules in some countries have in the past been strict about dried fish for this very reason, which has shaped how exporters handle and pack the product.

How Is the Bombay Duck Cooked?

Fresh Bombay duck is most often cooked by coating it in spiced rice flour or semolina and shallow-frying it until crisp outside and creamy inside, a dish known in Mumbai as bombil fry. It is cooked briefly, because the soft flesh falls apart if it is overcooked.

• Bombil fry: The fish is slit, marinated in turmeric, chilli and salt, rolled in semolina and fried.
• Bombil curry: The fish is simmered in a coconut, tamarind or kokum-based gravy typical of Konkan cooking.
• Stuffed bombil: The cleaned fish is stuffed with a green masala of coriander, chilli and garlic before frying.
• Dried bombil preparations: Dried fish is roasted or fried, or is crushed into chutneys and mixed with coconut or onion.

In Bengal, the fish, known as loitta, is also cooked in mustard-based preparations and fried with spices, and the dried form, called loitta shutki, is a favourite in some households. Across these regions, the preparation reflects local ingredients, but the aim is the same: to make the most of a fish whose texture is so delicate.

The Bombay duck is not a heavy-bodied fish, so it is usually eaten as a side or snack rather than as a centrepiece. Its fat content is moderate, and as with any fish, the nutrition depends on how it is prepared.

Why Does the Bombay Duck Matter Economically and Culturally?

The Bombay duck matters because it supports a large seasonal fishery, a dried-fish trade and the livelihoods of coastal communities, especially in Maharashtra and Gujarat. For the Koli fishing communities of Mumbai and the Konkan, bombil is closely tied to identity, food and the rhythm of the fishing year.

Several features make the species important:

• Volume: In Indian marine fisheries statistics, Bombay duck has long been counted among the notable species landed on the west coast, especially in Gujarat and Maharashtra, though actual tonnages vary by year and should be checked in the latest official data.
• Employment: Fishing, sorting, drying, packing and selling all give work, much of it done by women in drying yards and markets.
• Trade: Dried bombil is sold in Indian cities and has also been exported to buyers abroad, including communities of South Asian origin.
• Food culture: A bombil meal is a hallmark of Mumbai’s seafood cooking and appears on the menus of coastal restaurants.

The Bombay duck also draws attention from writers and travellers because of its unusual name. A traveller who asks for Bombay duck in an English-style curry house in Britain may be surprised to find a salty, crisp piece of dried fish served as a side, not a bird.

How Does the Bombay Duck Compare With Other Lizardfishes?

The Bombay duck is one of several lizardfishes found around India, and it differs from the others mainly in its soft, translucent body, higher water content and importance as a commercial catch. Other lizardfishes are firmer and more commonly used as low-value or mixed catch.

These differences explain why the Bombay duck has its own place in Indian food, whereas other lizardfishes are rarely discussed. A fish that is hard to transport fresh has had to develop a tradition of drying, and that tradition has made bombil a recognisable name.

Is the Bombay Duck Threatened?

The Bombay duck is not considered a globally threatened species, but its catches in India swing sharply from year to year, and it faces pressure from heavy fishing, coastal pollution and changing estuaries. Because the species is fast-growing and short-lived, it can respond quickly to both good and bad conditions.

The main concerns raised by fisheries researchers include:

• Intensive fishing of juvenile fish with fine-meshed nets.
• Loss and degradation of estuarine and mudflat nursery areas through reclamation, pollution and port development.
• Changes in river flow and salinity that alter where the fish gather.
• Warming seas, which may shift the distribution of fish stocks over time.

Sustainable management usually involves a monsoon fishing closure, mesh-size rules and monitoring of landings. Readers who need current figures on stocks or catch should consult the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and state fisheries departments, since such numbers change frequently.

Bottom Line

The Bombay duck is a soft, translucent lizardfish of the coastal waters of Maharashtra, Gujarat and the Bay of Bengal, and bombil is its best-known local name. It is a fish for frying fresh or for drying in the sun, and it carries a name that has confused visitors for generations. Understanding the fish means seeing it as a short-lived coastal predator, a staple of Konkan kitchens and a source of income for many fishing families.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bombay duck a duck or a fish?

Bombay duck is a fish, not a bird. It is a slender, translucent lizardfish scientifically called Harpadon nehereus, found in shallow seas around India and the wider Indo-Pacific. The word “duck” in the name is a quirk of English, with several unproven explanations for its origin.

What is bombil?

Bombil is the Marathi and Konkani name for the Bombay duck. The word is used both for the fresh fish, which is fried or curried, and for the sun-dried form. In Mumbai, bombil fry is one of the best-known seafood dishes.

Why does dried Bombay duck smell so strong?

Dried Bombay duck smells strong because the soft, watery flesh is salted and sun-dried, which concentrates the fish’s natural compounds and encourages partial fermentation. Many people find the smell sharp, yet the taste is salty and savoury when it is fried or roasted. It is usually eaten in small quantities as a side.

Where is Bombay duck found in India?

Bombay duck is found mainly along the coasts of Maharashtra and Gujarat, especially near Mumbai, Palghar and Saurashtra, and also in the Bay of Bengal and the Hooghly estuary. It prefers shallow, muddy waters close to river mouths. It is caught with dol nets that are set against the tide.

How is Bombay duck cooked?

Fresh Bombay duck is usually coated with spices and semolina and shallow-fried until crisp, or simmered in a coconut or kokum curry. Dried Bombay duck is fried or roasted and eaten in small amounts with rice or dal. Cooking time is short because the flesh is very delicate.

Is Bombay duck a threatened species?

Bombay duck is not regarded as a globally threatened species, but its catches fluctuate and its coastal habitats are under pressure. Heavy fishing of young fish, pollution and changes in estuaries are common concerns. Monsoon fishing closures and mesh-size rules are the usual tools for managing the fishery.

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