surgeonfish

American  

[sur-juhn-fish] / ˈsɜr dʒənˌfɪʃ /

noun

plural

surgeonfish,

plural

surgeonfishes

1. any tropical, coral-reef fish of the family Acanthuridae, with one or more sharp spines near the base of the tail fin.

---

surgeonfish British  

/ ˈsɜːdʒənˌfɪʃ /

noun

1. any tropical marine spiny-finned fish of the family Acanthuridae, having a compressed brightly coloured body with one or more knifelike spines at the base of the tail

---

Etymology

Origin of surgeonfish

1870–75, surgeon + fish; so called from the resemblance of its spines to a surgeon's instruments

Example Sentences

Living inside surgeonfish, the bacteria grows to 600 microns long — larger than a grain of salt.

From New York Times • Jun. 23, 2022

Once our sea legs acclimated to dry land, we enjoyed the fruits of our labor: yellowtail surgeonfish, known locally as cirujano.

From Salon • Aug. 3, 2019

Finding Dory furnishes the forgetful surgeonfish with an origin story—a pair of words that may strike fear into the hearts of understandably sequel-weary audiences.

From Slate • Jun. 15, 2016

We’ve seen mixed schools of ocean surgeonfish and blue tangs feeding in this way, their coffee-colored and royal-blue disk-shaped bodies vigorously stirring up clouds of detached algae bits and sediment.

From Scientific American • Sep. 18, 2015

The newly identified one-celled macro-microorganism, which lives harmlessly in the intestine of the Red Sea-dwelling brown surgeonfish, is a full fiftieth of an inch long, large enough to be seen with the naked eye.

From Time Magazine Archive