[hnick]

Yes, but other freshwater things (crocodile, frog) aren't bad. Shellfish is easily the worst. Ferment seafood ala belachan or SE Asian fish sauce and it's basically the worst thing I've ever smelled.

My personal belief is that I am extremely sensitive to one of the chemicals that shows up as fish gets old. I smell it much better and earlier than most people so even "fresh" fish smells like it should be thrown out. On the plus side, I can tell you which shops have the freshest fish :) One near us had nearly no smell, so it must have been good.

One of the stories my wife remembers is when we asked at a Chinese restaurant about whether the stir fried green beans had any seafood (they often have rice-sized dried shrimp). We were told no. I smelled it coming when they were a few tables away from us still, but the others at the table couldn't smell a thing and had to look very closely to confirm.

Editing to add: I'm not unadventurous or anything of the sort - I even like durian! But people seem to constantly think I just need to get used to an unfamiliar flavour.