Lo racconta Scientific American in un articoletto gustoso (anche se sa un po’ di pesce) di Jason G. Goldman pubblicato il 23 maggio 2013: Once Upon A Time, The Catholic Church Decided That Beavers Were Fish | The Thoughtful Animal, Scientific American Blog Network.
scientificamerican.com/
In addition to disease, the European settlers also brought Catholicism with them, and successfully converted a large proportion of the indigenous population. And the native Americans and Canadians loved their beaver meat.
So in the 17th century, the Bishop of Quebec approached his superiors in the Church and asked whether his flock would be permitted to eat beaver meat on Fridays during Lent, despite the fact that meat-eating was forbidden. Since the semi-aquatic rodent was a skilled swimmer, the Church declared that the beaver was a fish. Being a fish, beaver barbeques were permitted throughout Lent. Problem solved!
Ma non è un caso isolato: oltre a quelli raccontati nell’articolo di Scientific American (fate i bravi, leggetelo tutto), c’è anche quello famoso dell’oca artica (chiamata barnacle goose, Branta leucopsis), di cui si credeva che i barnacles, o percebes, o perceves fossero le uova e che dunque, in quanto di origine marina, era consentito mangiare nei giorni e nei periodi di magro (è una storia che ho raccontato qui).
Sbagliando s'impera 
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