Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various chiefly tropical marine fishes of the family Monacanthidae, having a flat body, a long dorsal spine, and rough skin.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Any plectognathous fish of the family Balistidæ: so called from the roughly granular skin.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) Any plectognath fish of the genera Monacanthus, Alutera, balistes, and allied genera; -- so called on account of the roughly granulated skin, which is sometimes used in place of sandpaper.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any fish of the family Monacanthidae, with very slender bodies.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun narrow flattened warm-water fishes with leathery skin and a long file-like dorsal spine

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From file +‎ fish.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word filefish.

Examples

  • Some were truly incredible — from the impossibly tiny-mouthed filefish (No. 32), to the blue parrotfish (No. 35) that looked like wet sapphire, to the 2-foot-long remora (No. 34) that Adler insisted could adhere to my belly and hang there (it did, and the sensation was like having a vacuum-cleaner hose with a thousand tiny needles at its end stuck to your skin).

    The Mid-Life Slam 2009

  • Between 1955 and 1975, there were observed fluctuations in catch for yellowtail, horse mackerel, filefish, parrot bass and sea robin, in Sagami Bay.

    Kuroshio Current large marine ecosystem 2008

  • Although this wreck is relatively new, it has already attracted numerous species of fish including, squirrelfish and filefish, along with visits from morays and occasional reef sharks.

    WN.com - Articles related to Changi Airport Cargo Growth Slows 2010

  • Although this wreck is relatively new, it has already attracted numerous species of fish including, squirrelfish and filefish, along with visits from morays and occasional reef sharks.

    WN.com - Articles related to Changi Airport Cargo Growth Slows 2010

  • Parrotfish, filefish and sergeant major fish prowled as starfish lurked on the bottom.

    CANOE Travel Features 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.