On the menu for lunch today was 鮭 which I couldn't understand till I got a piece of salmon. So I've got an urge to go off and learn kanji with the 魚 radical.

Found 81 listed in edict. But can someone point me to the appropriate part of RTK3? I assume Heisig will have covered some of them...

Cheers,

Realised that the Heisig number was actually on 鮭 itself! So if anyone else gets the urge, Heisig's fish section is from 2811-2827.

I can't remember ever seeing any of those kanji before besides 鮭, 鯉, 鮨, and maybe 鮫 and 鯛.

There used to be a Japanese TV show where people had to master a task in one week in order to win a prize. One of those challenges was to memorize all of the kanji with 魚 in them! So, most Japanese people don't know them either. Sushi menus usually use hiragana rather than the kanji, but you will see 鮭　(often pronounced しゃけ to avoid confusion with sake）　used often at restaurants.

Don't forget about these fishes, which are excluded in the RTK series

YELLOW TAIL - Primitives "FISH" AND "EXPERT" readings SHI, hamachi. This one I would assume would come up. Mnemonic: "Yellow tail fish" are "experts"

ABALONE - Primitives "FISH" AND "DOUBLE BACK" readings, FUKU, awabi

KILLER WHALE - Primitives "FISH" AND "TIGER". don't know the readings...

It is a general sign of a Japanese persn's level of education if they can write many kanji related to fish. So you are dealing with some rare and maybe not so useful kanji I guess. unless you have a fish fetish that is.

Kanken DS has a minigame called 寿司魂 that gives you 45 fish kanji one at a time and you have to write out the name of the fish. Get one wrong and the game is over.
I actually think the minigame is poorly designed, but it would be a proud accomplishment to get through all 45.