Part of the Sea of Conquest Recipes Series:

Recipes Hub: How the grading system works (Start Here).

Rare Grilled Fish: The most misunderstood dish.

Fishing Guide: Catching them.

Cooking Recipes: Every dish table.

Quick Answer

Fish are colour-graded by size, and the colour is what recipes actually specify:

Colour	Size	Best used in
Green	Small	Multi-ingredient dishes only — never alone
Blue	Small	Fried fish, soups, and the taco line
Purple	Medium	The high-value taco line and fish slices
Orange	Large	Exquisite Fish Slices, Sushi, the best fish dishes

Where they come from: the Salvage Bay cabin produces them passively, and fishing, Armed Freighters and sea monsters supplement it.

The most common mistake: grilling a small fish on its own. That produces Rare-grilled Fish, a C-tier dish worth 50 gold. The same three Blue fish in a taco earn 1,080.

Fish Dishes Ranked by Gold

Dish	Ingredients	Gold
Heavenly Fried Fish Taco	1× Maize + 3× Purple	3,000
Exquisite Fish Slices	4× Orange	1,920
Delicious Fried Fish Taco	1× Maize + 2× Purple	1,920
Freshly Made Fried Fish Taco	3× Blue + 1× Maize	1,080
Tender Fish Slices	2× Orange + 2× Purple	960
Ordinary Fried Fish Taco	2× Blue + 1× Maize	840
Fresh Fish Slices	4× Purple	640
Crispy Fried Fish	2× Egg + 2× Orange	520
Divine Fish Soup	1× Orange + 1× Purple + 1× Water	440
Finger Licking Grilled Fish	1× Purple + 1× Orange	400
Tasty Fish Soup	1× Orange + 1× Blue + 1× Water	360
Yummy Grilled Fish	2× Purple	320
Hot Fish Soup	1× Orange + 1× Water	280
Nicely Grilled Fish	1× Orange	240
Ordinary Grilled Fish	1× Purple	100
Salted Fish Soup	1× Water + 1× Green	75
Rare-grilled Fish	1× Green or Blue	50

Maize is the multiplier. Look at what one Maize does: 3× Purple fish alone would be Fresh Fish Slices at 640 gold; add a Maize and it becomes a Heavenly Fried Fish Taco at 3,000. That is nearly a fivefold return on one common looted ingredient.

Always keep Maize stocked. It is the highest-leverage ingredient in the galley.

What to Do With Each Colour

Green fish — the least useful. Use them in Salted Fish Soup or Raw Fish Taco to clear inventory, but never grill them alone.

Blue fish — bulk. Their best use is the Freshly Made Fried Fish Taco (3× Blue + 1× Maize, 1,080 gold), or Ordinary Fried Fish and Fish Soup. Compare: three Blue grilled separately earn 150; the same three in a taco earn 1,080. Seven times the return for one Maize.

Purple fish — your workhorse. The Heavenly Fried Fish Taco (1× Maize + 3× Purple) at 3,000 gold is the best fish dish in the game. Save Purple for it.

Orange fish — the premium catch. Exquisite Fish Slices (4× Orange) at 1,920, or Season 4's Exquisite Sushi (1× Rice + 2× Orange). Also pairs with Purple for Finger Licking Grilled Fish.

Where Fish Come From

The Salvage Bay cabin produces aquatic products passively, and it also gates your Galley — so it is on the critical path whether or not you care about fishing. If you are chronically short of fish, upgrade the Salvage Bay before anything else. See the cabins guide.

Fishing supplements it, and new fish species score +5 points in the Season 2 Sea Voyage event — so discovery pays twice.

Armed Freighters and sea monsters drop fish alongside other loot.

Season Fish Recipes

Later seasons add fish dishes built on their own ingredients:

Season 4 brings Sumptuous Miso Soup (1× Purple + 2× Kombu + 1× Water), Exquisite Sushi (1× Rice + 2× Orange) and Heavenly Shrimp Tempura (2× Eggs + 2× Kuruma Prawn).

Season-gated ingredients like Kombu and Rice stop spawning when the map rotates, so stockpile them before a season ends — see the season recipes guide.

FAQ

What do the fish colours mean in Sea of Conquest?

Size grades. Green and Blue are small, Purple medium, Orange large. Recipes specify colour, and substituting drops your dish a tier.

Where do I get fish?

The Salvage Bay cabin produces them passively; fishing, Armed Freighters and sea monsters supplement it.

What is the best fish recipe?

Heavenly Fried Fish Taco — 1× Maize + 3× Purple fish, for 3,000 gold.

What should I do with small fish?

Put them in multi-ingredient dishes. Three Blue fish plus one Maize makes 1,080 gold; grilled separately they make 150.

Why is Rare Grilled Fish so cheap?

Because "rare" means undercooked, not scarce. It is the C-tier result of grilling one small fish.

Why is Maize so important?

It converts fish and meat into the Heavenly taco line — a roughly fivefold gold increase for one common ingredient.

Key Takeaways

Colour is a size grade: Green/Blue small, Purple medium, Orange large.
Never cook a fish alone. That is the 50-gold C-tier result.
Maize is the multiplier — it turns fish into 3,000-gold tacos.
The Salvage Bay is your main supply and gates the Galley.
Purple fish belong in Heavenly tacos, Orange in Fish Slices and Sushi.

Sea of Conquest Fish Guide: Colour Grades and Which Dishes to Cook