fish louse

American

noun

any of numerous small crustaceans, especially certain copepods, parasitic on the skin and gills of fish.

fish louse British

noun

any small flat rounded crustacean of the subclass Branchiura , having sucking mouth parts: parasites of fish

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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fish louse

This superstition probably arose from the fact that a parasitic crustacean, known to watermen as "a fish louse," was often found clinging to the roof of the menhaden's mouth.

From The Stronghold A Story of Historic Northern Neck of Virginia and Its People by Miriam Haynie

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023