The three-day Bengal Fish Fest at Nalban ended on Sunday with an open “fish quiz” being the main course of the final afternoon.

Quizmaster Rajib Sanyal volleyed poser after poser and hands in the audience went up in the air. Many questions were audio and video clue-based and the audience had fun recognising the fish-related songs. They had to name the composer of the Lopamudra Mitra song Bangla amar Sorse Ilish (Kalyan Sen Barat) and the singer of Tyangra tobu katon jaay (Gosto Gopal Das).

While some questions — requiring the audience members to identify rare fish species from their pictures — left them stumped, others had people raising their hands even before the questions were fielded. At least 15 hands shot up the moment a scene from a comedy was played, with a Bangal and ghoti character arguing over the supremacy of Padmar Ilish and Chingri Malai Curry.

Sanyal finally split the question into two. Children were asked the name of the film. “It’s Bhooter Bhabishyat,” smiled nine-year-old Snehabrita Niyogi. “I’m from Serampore and that’s where this film was shot so I can never get this wrong.” Adults were asked to name the director (Anik Dutta), which Rini Sinha, who lives near the airport, aced.

Similar was the case when the Machhli Baba character from Jai Baba Felunath was shown. Most in the audience waved their raised hands frantically and Sanyal chose little Snehabrita’s father Suman Kumar Niyogi, a railway employee, to answer. It’s not certain if he even heard out the question, but he rattled off everything the quizmaster could have ever asked. “The character’s name is Machhli Baba, the actor playing him is Monu Mukherjee, the thumri in the background is sung by Reba Muhury….” He was unstoppable and the audience broke into laughter and applause.

The event also drew brothers Kallol and Kuntal Chakravarty, who have been active in the quizzing circuit for 40 years. “Our families are fed up of our weekend getaways to attend quizzes,” joked Kuntal. “Even today we’ve escaped with much difficulty.”

The fest was organised by the state Fisheries Development Corporation and managing director Subrata Mukherjee said the quiz added to the ambience. “We wanted a carnival-like atmosphere for our guests,” he said.