Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of numerous chiefly tropical, often brightly colored marine fishes of the family Labridae, having spiny fins, thick lips, and powerful jaws, and often valued for food.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In New Zealand, Pseudolabrus bothryocosmus. Called also poddly, spotty, and kelp-fish.
- n. An acanthopterygian teleost fish of the family Labridæ; any labrid, or labroid fish, having thick fleshy lips, strong sharp teeth, and usually brilliant coloration. See parrot-fish (with cut). They are carnivorous salt-water fishes of littoral habits, haunting chiefly rocky shores, and many of them are esteemed food-fishes. The species to which the name applies as a book-name are very numerous; but those of which wrasse is actually spoken are chiefly the British species, as the ballan-wrasse and the red wrasse. (See cut under
Labrus .) In America the best-known wrasses (though not so called) are the common cunner, the tautog, and the fathead. See cuts under these words.
Wiktionary
- n. Any one of numerous edible, marine, spiny-finned fishes of the genus Labrus, of which several species are found in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic coast of Europe. Many of the species are bright-colored.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Any one of numerous edible, marine, spiny-finned fishes of the genus Labrus, of which several species are found in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic coast of Europe. Many of the species are bright-colored.
WordNet 3.0
- n. chiefly tropical marine fishes with fleshy lips and powerful teeth; usually brightly colored
Etymologies
- Cornish gwragh and Welsh gwrach, old woman.
Examples
“When a wrasse tends a great grouper, the little cleaner sometimes swims into the gill chambers and mouth, demonstrating remarkable faith that it is not going to be eaten.”
“The cleaner wrasse gets its dinner by plucking parasites off the bodies of its “client” fishes, even from inside the mouths.”
“Potassium cyanide is squirted directly at target fish species such as grouper or Napoleon wrasse, paralyzing them and enabling them to be collected alive.”
The Huffington Post: James Morgan: Cyanide Fishing in the Coral Triangle (Photos)
“In the 10-year period in question, 33 new fish species have been found in the waters around the island, including the damselfish, a strikingly brilliant blue wrasse and seven species of zig-zag rainbow fish, an 11cm-long creature which lives in shallow waters.”
The Guardian: Conservationists discover more than 1,000 species in New Guinea
“But he stopped short at the aquarium where a Hawaiian cleaner wrasse stared sadly out.”
“Elsewhere, flocks of swans and geese glide in the resort's lagoons and ponds, while the surrounding reef waters are teeming with schools of Maori wrasse, angelfish, marlin and sea turtles.”
The Huffington Post: Yvonne Yorke: The Great Barrier Reef: From Above and Below
“Dentex and rainbow-colored wrasse snuffle the white sand below, stirring up a meal, while tiger-striped gobies lay among the rocks, waiting to snap the smaller fish up in turn.”
The Wall Street Journal: The Alluring Remoteness of Karpathos
“Indeed, the punsters might come over and kick your wrasse.”
“Is an oxpecker a parasite or a helpful scavenger - your basic feathered cleaner wrasse?”
“During a one-hour dive, thousands of colorful tropical fish were on display: clown triggerfish, patterned with circles and squiggles in black, white, orange and yellow; bright yellow, blue-girdled emperor angel fish; a school of gray bumphead parrot fish -- whose heads do indeed resemble a parrot's; and a small squad of napoleon wrasse.”
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