finger fish

plural finger fishes · alternative finger-fish · alternative fingerfish

1. Any small fish approximately the size of a finger.

   Finger fish are very plentiful in this country. They are of the length of a man's finger, and lie in the bottom of the water about one or two feet deep. They are very good.

   1860, John Lawson, The History of Carolina, Containing the Exact Description and Natural History of that Country, Together with the Present State Thereof and a Journal of a Thousand Miles Traveled Through Several Nations of Indians, Giving a Particular Account of Their Customs, Manners, &c., &c, W. Taylor, page 265

2. A starfish.

   The sponge, the coral, and the madrepore will remain as indifferent to the fury of the elements as the rock on which they are incrusted, or as the shingle on which the finger-fish spreads his four marble arms.

   1872, Louis Figuier, The tomorrow of death: or, The future life according to science, Roberts brothers, page 222

3. A threadfin of the genus Polynemus.

   Polynemus lineatus, the lineated finger-fiſh: appendages five, reaching to the anus; twelve brown longitudinal ſtripes on each ſide.

   1826, Encyclopædia Londinensis, Volume 21, page 98

4. Any fish of the family Monodactylidae.