sea bream, red snapper
鯛 centers on a specific prized fish: the sea bream, often called red snapper in English. Both given meanings refer to the same fish, with "red snapper" being a common market name for certain sea bream species.
鯛 combines 魚 (fish) with 周, which likely contributes the sound チョウ. The character was created to name this specific fish.
The left side 魚 means fish, and the right side 周 looks like a net or a fishing ground. Picture a sea bream caught in a net: 鯛 is that prized fish.
For チョウ, imagine a sea bream so large it's as long as a 蝶 (ちょう, butterfly) is small—a playful contrast: 蝶 -> チョウ, and the sea bream is the star of the catch.
sea bream (esp. Pagrus major); porgy
red sea bream (Pagrus major); Japanese sea bream; red tai; porgy
crimson sea bream (Evynnis japonica)
black porgy (Acanthopagrus schlegeli)
splendid alfonsino (Beryx splendens)
decorative fish displayed during festive occasions
red sea bream (Pagellus bogaraveo)
gilt-head bream (Sparus aurata)
North Pacific squirrelfish (Sargocentron spinosissimum)
whitetail dascyllus (Dascyllus aruanus); humbug dascyllus; banded dascyllus; white-tailed damselfish
emperor red snapper (Lutjanus sebae); bourgeois red snapper; bourgeois fish
bluestripe snapper (Lutjanus kasmira); bluestripe seaperch
Japanese armorhead (Pentaceros japonicus)
vertical-striped cardinalfish (Apogon lineatus); Indian perch; coral fish
Japanese soldierfish (Ostichthys japonicus)
stout chromis (Chromis chrysura)
lavender jobfish (Pristipomoides sieboldii); flower jobfish
Asian sheepshead wrasse (Semicossyphus reticulatus)
bluestriped angelfish (Chaetodontoplus septentrionalis)
silver sea bream (Sparus sarba)