noun (plural same or butterfishes)
Any of a number of fishes with oily flesh or slippery skin:
- ● a deep-bodied edible fish of temperate and tropical seas (family Stromateidae), in particular Peprilus triacanthus of eastern North America. ● another term for gunnel1. ● an Australasian reef fish (family Odacidae), in particular the edible Odax pullus of New Zealand, which has green bones and feeds on kelp. ● a tropical freshwater or marine fish that is popular in aquaria (several families, including Scatophagidae).
More example sentences
- Ballan wrasse, dragonets, scorpionfish, butterfish and topknots (common and Norwegian) all occur frequently.
- It was not until the autofocus hit the mark that I noted the jaws of the scorpionfish trapping the poor butterfish.
- The most common here are butterfish, which swim off, snake-like, if disturbed.
More definitions of butterfishDefinition of butterfish in:
- The US English dictionary