List of halal fish

In Sunni Islam, there are two general schools of thought. Most Sunni Muslim schools of jurisprudence (Shafi'i, Hanbali, and Maliki) hold as a general rule that all "sea game" (animals of the sea) are permissible to eat with a few minor exceptions. Thus, for example, the local dish Laksa (which includes meats such as shrimp and squid with a soup base made from shrimp paste), is deemed permissible in the Shafi'i Sunni Muslim majority nations of Indonesia and Malaysia where it is commonly consumed.^{[citation needed]}

In the Hanafi school, one of the four Sunni schools, only "fish" (as opposed to all "sea game") are permissible, including eel, croaker and hagfish.^{[citation needed]}

Any other sea (or water) creatures that are not fish, therefore, are also makruh tahrimi (forbidden but not as the same level as haram) whether they breathe oxygen from water through gills (such as prawns, lobsters and crabs, which are crustaceans), molluscs such as clams, octopus, mussels and squid, especially if they breathe oxygen from air through lungs (such as sea turtles and sea snakes, which are reptiles, dolphins and whales, which are mammals, or semi-aquatic animals like penguins, which are birds, saltwater crocodiles, which are reptiles, seals, which are mammals, and frogs, which are amphibians).^{[citation needed]}

In the Hanafi school of thought, there is a difference of opinion if shrimp and prawns are fish. Those who say they are halal say that the Arabs used to consider them fish, thus permissible. By contrast, others argue that prawns and shrimps are not actually fish, nor do they look like fish, so shrimps and prawns are not permissible. Additionally, the Hanafi scholars prohibit fish that died of natural causes and start to float on the surface of the water (also known as Samak-al-Tafi).^[1]