butterfishn.
/ˈbʌtəfɪʃ/, U.S. /ˈbədərˌfɪʃ/ Any of various marine fishes thought to resemble butter in some way, as in having slippery mucus-coated skin or oily flesh.
a. A gunnel (family Pholidae); esp. the rock gunnel, Pholis gunnellus, of the North Atlantic.
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > [noun] > miscellaneous types of
butterfish1673
zebrafish1771
moki1777
kelp-fish1880
harlequin smiler1955
blue eye1978
the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > [noun] > suborder Blennioidei > pholis gunnellus (gunnel)
stone-fish1668
butterfish1673
gunnel1686
nine-eyes1711
swordick1805
the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > family Serranidae (sea-bass) > [noun] > member of Oligorus or Plectroplites (Murray perch)
grouper1615
butterfish1673
yellowbelly1775
Murray perch1880
callop1907
1673 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Words 104 Butter-Fish.
1710 R. Sibbald Hist. Fife & Kinross ii. iii. 51 Gunnellus Cornubiensium, the Butter Fish of the English; our Fishers call it the Stone-fish.
1740 R. Brookes Art of Angling ii. xviii. 123 The Butter-Fish or Gunnel..sometimes attains the Length of six Inches..is taken frequently on the Cornish Coast.
1842 J. E. De Kay Zool. N.-Y. iv. 153 The American Butter-fish, Gunnellus mucronatus.
1879 T. Satchell Provis. Index Fish Names 5 Blennius gunnellus, Butter-fish.., Nine-eyes.
1931 E. G. Boulenger Fishes xvi. 139 The Common Butter Fish (Pholis gunnellus ), of both shores of the north Atlantic—family Pholididæ.
1961 E. S. Herald Living Fishes of World 239/2 The rock gunnel, Pholis gunnellus, sometimes called butterfish, is a common 6- to 12-inch inshore species.
2004 P. J. Hayward Nat. Hist. Seashore vii. 213 The butterfish, Pholis gunnellus.., is another littoral fish rather resembling an eel.
b. Chiefly Australian and New Zealand. Any of several fishes, as the dusky morwong, Dactylophora nigricans (family Latridae), the greenbone or kelpfish, Odax pullus (family Odacidae), or any fish of the warehou family Centrolophidae.
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the world > animals > fish > unspecified types > [noun]
whalec950
tumbrelc1300
sprout1340
squame1393
codmop1466
whitefish1482
lineshark?a1500
salen1508
glaucus1509
bretcock1522
warcodling1525
razor1530
bassinatc1540
goldeney1542
smy1552
maiden1555
grail1587
whiting1587
needle1589
pintle-fish1591
goldfish1598
puffin fish1598
quap1598
stork1600
black-tail1601
ellops1601
fork-fish1601
sea-grape1601
sea-lizard1601
sea-raven1601
barne1602
plosher1602
whale-mouse1607
bowman1610
catfish1620
hog1620
kettle-fish1630
sharpa1636
carda1641
housewifea1641
roucotea1641
ox-fisha1642
sea-serpent1646
croaker1651
alderling1655
butkin1655
shamefish1655
yard1655
sea-dart1664
sea-pelican1664
Negro1666
sea-parrot1666
sea-blewling1668
sea-stickling1668
skull-fish1668
whale's guide1668
sennet1671
barracuda1678
skate-bread1681
tuck-fish1681
swallowtail1683
piaba1686
pit-fish1686
sand-creeper1686
horned hog1702
soldier1704
sea-crowa1717
bran1720
grunter1726
calcops1727
bennet1731
bonefish1734
Negro fish1735
isinglass-fish1740
orb1740
gollin1747
smelt1776
night-walker1777
water monarch1785
hardhead1792
macaw-fish1792
yellowback1796
sea-raven1797
blueback1812
stumpnose1831
flat1847
butterfish1849
croppie1856
gubbahawn1857
silt1863
silt-snapper1863
mullet-head1866
sailor1883
hogback1893
skipper1898
stocker1904
1849 Adelaide Misc. 28 July 407 They call it ‘butter fish’: the flesh is white, but it is much richer than any other I have tasted.
1871 Timaru (N.Z.) Herald 14 Jan. 2/4 The Sound is full of wild fowl and fish, consisting of blue cod, eels, crayfish, butterfish, &c.
1883 E. P. Ramsay Food Fishes New S. Wales 12 H[aplodactylus] obscurus,..known to our southern fishermen as the ‘butter-fish’, is highly esteemed.
1948 F. D. Marshall Let's go Fishing 76 One of the best tablefish, the jewfish (also known as dewfish, butterfish..) grows up to 120 pounds in weight.
1986 L. J. Paul N.Z. Fishes 110 Internationally the name butterfish is used for the family to which our warehou belong.
2003 K. Clements in N. Andrew & M. Francis Living Reef xvi. 130/1 (caption) A male butterfish (Odax pullus) swimming above one of its foods, the seaweed Lessonia variegata.
c. Originally U.S. Any of the fishes of the family Stromateidae; esp. the dollarfish, Peprilus triacanthus, of the western Atlantic. Formerly also: the Atlantic moonfish, Selene setapinnis (family Carangidae), of the western Atlantic. Also with distinguishing word.
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > [noun] > suborder Stromatoidei > member of (butter-fish)
Stromateus1753
dollar-fish18..
Stromat1803
katonkel1853
pompano1882
butterfish1884
harvest-fish1885
1884 G. B. Goode in G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I 323 It [sc. Selene setipennis] is a frequent summer visitor all along the coast as far north as Wood's Holl, Massachusetts, where it has a peculiar name, the people there calling it the ‘Hump-backed Butterfish’.
1888 G. B. Goode Amer. Fishes 221 The ‘Butter-fish’ of Massachusetts and New York, Stromateus triacanthus.
1911 Rep. Comm. U.S. Bureau Fisheries 1908 314/1 Pumpkin-seed.—A name applied to the sunfish (Eupomotis gibbosus) of the brooks of New York and New England, and to the butterfish (Poronotus triacanthus) in Connecticut.
1962 K. F. Lagler et al. Ichthyol. xiv. 443 Among the many other fishes of the neritic zone are the..butter-fishes (Stromateidae).
2015 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 5 Nov. 8/4 In the Gulf, ‘trash’ might include..Gulf butterfish, inshore lizardfish, bonnethead sharks.., orange starfish, and..sea turtles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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