You probably did not know beaver is a fish. Apparently so are muskrat.

“In respect of its tail, it is altogether a fish, having been juridically declared such by the faculty of medicine of Paris, in consequence of which declaration, the faculty of theology have decided that it might be lawfully eaten on meagre days.” – Fr. Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, S.J., Histoire et description générale de la Nouvelle France, Volume III, 1744.

https://thejesuitpost.org/2026/02/beavers-muskrats-and-the-real-invitation-of-lent/

The way I heard it was the trappers were wrote to the Pope and said there was this critter that has a scaly tail and swims, but left it at that, and the Pope was like "that sounds like a very fishy critter" and of course he didn't know what they were, so he made them be considered a fish... And I guess it just stayed that way. I don't know if that's true but that's the story I heard

Muskrats and beavers are warm blooded mammals. If you do not eat meat on Fridays during lent, they are off the list.

That's the way I heard the story.Fifty some years ago too

Way to go beaver (and mrats)!!!

My understanding is it was all about the $$. French Catholic trappers had to wast valuable time procuring other food during lent. This would cause them to fall behind other countries trappers. They gave an inaccurate description of beaver to the pope in order to get it on the non meat list. The description was apparently prearranged. That’s the way I always heard it anyway.