pilotfish

[ pahy-luht-fish ]

/ ˈpaɪ lətˌfɪʃ /

noun, plural (especially collectively) pi·lot·fish, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) pi·lot·fish·es.

a small, marine fish, Naucrates ductor, often swimming with sharks.

any of various other fishes having similar habits.

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Origin of pilotfish

First recorded in 1625–35; pilot + fish

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Example sentences from the Web for pilotfish

There are other curious things about these pilot-fish that naturalists cannot explain.
Harper's Round Table, October 29, 1895|Various
He was made to stick to the skipper as though he were of some use—as the pilot-fish, they say, is to the whale.
End of the Tether|Joseph Conrad
The law which doomed him to be the humble attendant of stronger spirits resembled the law which binds the pilot-fish to the shark.
Critical and Historical Essays, Volume III (of 3)|Thomas Babington Macaulay
One paper likened him to the pilot-fish, which guides the shark to his prey.
Andersonville, Volume 2|John McElroy

Still, you know Moggridge has taken care that the bait carefully conceals the snare within, and the pilot-fish are none the wiser.
The White Squall|John Conroy Hutcheson

British Dictionary definitions for pilotfish

pilot fish

noun

a small carangid fish, Naucrates ductor, of tropical and subtropical seas, marked with dark vertical bands: often accompanies sharks and other large fishes

any of various similar or related fishes

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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