butterfish

plural butterfishes · alternative butter-fish

1. Any of various species of fish having a slippery mucous coating, especially

   Among the common species found in the Atlantic Ocean are bonga (a type of herring), tuna, butterfish, skate, grey mullet, and tarpon.

   2007, Suzanne LeVert, Cultures of the World: Sierra Leone, page 21

   1. Perciform fish of the family Stromateidae, including the genera Pampus, Peprilus and Stromateus.
   2. A rock gunnel, Pholis gunnellus, an eel-like fish found in the intertidal and subtidal zones of the North Atlantic.
   3. The New Zealand fish Odax pullus, also known as greenbone.
   4. obsoleteThe Murray perch, Oligorus mitchelli; an Australian perciform fish of Murray river, now known as trout cod, Maccullochella macquariensis http://www.fishbase.org/Nomenclature/SynonymsList.php?ID=6308&SynCode=26048&GenusName=Maccullochella&SpeciesName=macquariensis, http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Maccullochella-macquariensis.html.
2. informalA sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria).