hatchetfish

[hach-it-fish]

noun

plural

hatchetfish ,

plural

hatchetfishes .

1. any deep-sea fishes of the genera Argyropelicus, Sternoptyx, and related genera, of tropical and temperate waters, having a silvery, hatchet-shaped body.

2. Also called flying characin. any of several freshwater fishes of the genera Carnegiella, Gasteropelecus, and Thorachocharax, occurring from Panama to the Rio de la Plata and capable of flying short distances by rapid movements of their large pectoral fins.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hatchetfish¹

First recorded in 1930–35; hatchet + fish

Example Sentences

Ms. Justino has excavated fibers and beads from the digestive tracts of lanternfish, hatchetfish and other fish that migrate up and down in the mesopelagic, 650 to 3,300 feet down.

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Nobody knows what they were eating, she wrote, but lanternfish and hatchetfish are abundant at the depths the whale reached.

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A small number of other fish such as the anglerfish and hatchetfish have transparent teeth.

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The belly of a hatchetfish contains light organs or photophores.

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Animals like the hatchetfish also use their bodies as mirrors to hide, or even make themselves transparent.

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