Roe

Roe (roʊ ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked ingredient in many dishes, and as a raw ingredient for delicacies such as caviar. The roe of marine animals, such as the roe of lumpsucker, hake, mullet, salmon, Atlantic bonito, mackerel, squid, and cuttlefish are especially rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids, but omega-3s are present in all fish roe. Also, a significant amount of vitamin B12 is among the nutrients present in fish roes. Roe from a sturgeon or sometimes other fish such as flathead grey mullet, is the raw base product from which caviar is made. The term soft roe or white roe denotes fish milt, not fish eggs. People in KwaZulu-Natal consume fish roe in the form of slightly sour curry or battered and deep fried. In southern Brazil, in particular in the litoral parts of the state of Santa Catarina (from Azorean colonization), mullet roesacks are consumed deep-fried or pan-seared by the locals. In the province of New Brunswick, roe (caviare) of the Atlantic sturgeon is harvested from the Saint John river. Roe from the cisco is harvested from the Great Lakes, primarily for overseas markets. Roe is also extracted from herring, salmon, and sea urchins. Roe is an important food source and fishery for Indigenous people of the pacific coast. Herring roe on kelp is a distinctly indigenous industry which involves harvesting kelp or hemlock branches with eggs laid on them which is much more sustainable then killing the fish for roe. In coastal British Columbia, Fraser River white sturgeon are sustainably farmed to produce caviar. In Chile, sea urchin roe is a traditional food known as an "erizo de mar". Chile is one of many countries that exports sea urchins to Japan in order to fulfill Japanese demand. In Dominican Republic, dried and smoked herring roe ("huevas de arenque") is eaten. Unlike in some countries, it's generally cooked before consumption.