rabbitfish

American  

[rab-it-fish] / ˈræb ɪtˌfɪʃ /

noun

plural

rabbitfish,

plural

rabbitfishes

1. a puffer, Lagocephalus laevigatus.

2. a chimaera, Chimaera monstrosa.

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rabbitfish British  

/ ˈræbɪtˌfɪʃ /

noun

1. a large chimaera, Chimaera monstrosa , common in European seas, with separate caudal and anal fins and a long whiplike tail

2. any of the spiny-finned tropical marine fishes of the family Siganidae of Indo-Pacific waters. They have a rabbit-like snout and spines on the pelvic or ventral fins

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Etymology

Origin of rabbitfish

1820–30; rabbit + fish, from the resemblance of its nose to a rabbit's

Example Sentences

The bright yellow rabbitfish, for example, overgrazes seagrass beds, destroying plants that provide a key habitat for local species and sequester carbon.

From Reuters • Nov. 13, 2022

They can avoid overfishing key herbivores like the rabbitfish that nurture the reefs by clearing away excessive algae.

From New York Times • Jan. 4, 2018

This seaweed is so nasty, in fact, that most marine herbivores avoid it on sight—except for one species of rabbitfish that quivers with excitement every time it spots this not-so-common algae.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 17, 2011

If Fijians developed a particular taste for that one rabbitfish, for instance, turtle weed might begin to grow out of control, launching its bid for world, or at least South Pacific, domination.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 17, 2011

Pretty much the only things that live there are rabbitfish and ponyfish, acorn barnacles, green-lipped mussels, and bacteria.

From Time Magazine Archive