catfish

What it means

1. countableuncountableAny fish of the order Siluriformes, mainly found in fresh water, lacking scales, and having barbels like whiskers around the mouth.

   1 more example

   “You don’t see catfish that big anymore, except in Chernobyl […] Nobody fishes there anymore, so the catfish thrive. They’ve gotten really enormous, some even twelve or thirteen feet long. They’re bottom-feeders, and apparently the mud still contains a lot of radioactive particles, but the catfish don’t seem to mind.”

   2013, Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being, Canongate Books (2019), page 213

   Synonyms: catlet, sheat, sheatfish, river chicken

2. countableuncountableThe meat of such a fish, popular in the Southern U.S. and Central Europe.

In a sentence

“You don’t see catfish that big anymore, except in Chernobyl […] Nobody fishes there anymore, so the catfish thrive. They’ve gotten really enormous, some even twelve or thirteen feet long. They’re bottom-feeders, and apparently the mud still contains a lot of radioactive particles, but the catfish don’t seem to mind.”

2013, Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being, Canongate Books (2019), page 213

Where it comes from

From cat + fish. Likely so named for its prominent barbels like a cat's whiskers. Compare West Frisian katfisk (“catfish”), Dutch katvis (“catfish”). Compare also German Seekatze (“catfish”, literally “sea-cat”).