oysterfishn.
/ˈɔɪstəfɪʃ/, U.S. /ˈɔɪstərˌfɪʃ/ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Pelecypoda or Conchifera > [noun] > section Asiphonida > family Ostreidae > member of (oyster)
oystereOE
oysterfish1611
sentry fish1664
sickle-oyster1758
lion's claw1759
bluepoint1789
ostracean1839
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words at Ostreca Any oyster-fish.
2. Chiefly U.S. regional. Any of various fishes which frequent oyster beds; esp. (a) the oyster toadfish, Opsanus tau; (b) the tautog, Tautoga onitis; (c) the naked goby, Gobiosoma bosci.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > superorder Paracanthopterygii > [noun] > order Batrachoidiformes > toad-fish
sea-devil1634
sarpo1753
oysterfish1855
frogfish1953
sargassum angler1961
the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Labrioidei (wrasse) > [noun] > family Labridae > tautog
tautog1750
blackfish1842
oysterfish1855
nipper1884
the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > [noun] > suborder Gobioidei > family Gobiidae > member of (goby)
gull1495
gudgeon1584
quab1598
quabling1617
goby1769
gobioid1845
sea-gudgeon1864
gobiid1883
oysterfish1903
sand goby1911
1855 S. F. Baird in Rep. Board of Regents Smithsonian Inst. ix. 340 The toad-fish, or, as it is called at Beesley's point, the oyster-fish, on account of its frequenting the oyster beds, is one of the fisherman's pests.
1878 Proc. U.S. National Mus. 1 374 Tautoga omitis [sic].—Oyster-fish. Rather common.
1884 G. B. Goode in G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I iii. 251 The toad-fish, Batrachus tau, called also on the coast of New Jersey and in some parts of the Southern States ‘Oyster-fish’, is one of the most repulsive looking fishes upon our coast.
1903 T. H. Bean Fishes N.Y. 656 Gobiosoma bosci... Naked Goby; Mud Creeper; Oysterfish.
1940 Sun (Baltimore) 30 Apr. 6/3 The oyster fish, sometimes called ‘devil fish’ by local fishermen, has a big head and mouth with which it crushes oysters for food.
1980 List Common & Sci. Names Fishes U.S. & Canada (Amer. Fisheries Soc. Special Publ. No. 12) (ed. 4) 146 Oysterfish—see oyster toadfish.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1611