An important feature of human diets is the establishment of food categories according to its preference or avoidance. The literature on fish food preferences points out a general pattern Of preference for fish with scales and an avoidance or prohibition of scaleless fish. The,food preferences, avoidances, and taboos on animal protein items among three caicara communities from the Southeastern Brazilian coast were analyzed. Two aspects of the caicaras choice of food were discussed, regarding their preferences, avoidances, and taboos on the consumption of catfish (Ariidae) and on different species of mullets (Mugilidae). This categorization can be explained both ecologically and culturally: through the environmental availability; of the species, their position in the food web, or their importance in the economy and in the social relations within the community. A connection between resource conservation and food taboos about certain fish species are unlikely when. compared to the possible relations between hunting taboos and conservation of the terrestrial fauna. For the studied communities, there was no nutritional deprivation resulting from food taboos on fish species.312123129