red mullet

American  

noun

1. a goatfish or surmullet.

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red mullet British  

noun

1. US name: goatfish.  any of the marine percoid fishes constituting the family Mullidae , esp Mullus surmuletus , a food fish of European waters. They have a pair of long barbels beneath the chin and a reddish coloration

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Etymology

Origin of red mullet

First recorded in 1755–65

Example Sentences

Rock started photographing Bowie as the artist was forming his Ziggy Stardust persona: bright red mullet, with blood-red rouge and eye shadow and glittery gold lipstick.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 19, 2021

Cooks stir it into couscous broth, fish soups and tomato sauce for pasta , add it to salads of roasted red peppers or eggplant, and spoon it onto grilled sardines and red mullet.

From Washington Post • Aug. 3, 2017

But to be the first in those platform shoes and that red mullet since Mr. Bowie’s death in January, at the age of 69, added another layer of anxieties.

From New York Times • Mar. 20, 2016

"We serve fish from the North Sea, vegetables from this region, we will never work with a red mullet, for example, because it's a fish from the South. We only use local products," Goossens said.

From Reuters • Feb. 3, 2016

It having been remarked that the red mullet passed through many changes of color in dying, like the dolphin, fashion decreed that it should die upon the table.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 47, September, 1861 by Various