Corphish's name is possibly a pun on crayfish.
Alternatively, it could be a homonymic play on the arcane Newfoundland fishing term corfish; the meaning of "corfish" is not clear. According to "West to Pemaquid,"[1], corfish were a "kind of dried fish," specifically, "a green variety." It goes on to say that the other kind of dried fish was called "dunfish," which we can ascertain from the 1913 Webster means "codfish cured in a particular manner, so as to be of a superior quality." We can assume from this that "corfish" is thus probably a type of preserved, dried codfish, and, according to West to Pemaquid, lower quality than dunfish (corfish ... was suitable for sale ... as slave food ...). "Colony of Avalon,"[2] further asserts corfish to mean "wet-cured fish" (to cure being to preserve using salts or smoke). Corfish is mostly obsolete, but is still sometimes used, and can especially be found in old English; for example, see page 279 of Captain John Smith: A Select Edition of His Writings or New England Before the Pilgrim Fathers Landed[3]: "Of dry fish we made about 40000. of Cor fish about 7000," and "With these Furres, the Traine, and Corfish I returned for England in the Bark ..." (1614). The Dictionary of Newfoundland English defines "corfish," but it is not widely available.
Its Japanese name is based on 平家蟹 heikegani, Heike crab.
