Meanings
- The cottonwick fish, Haemulon melanurum.
Haemulon melanurum, the jeniguana, is known from the West Indies and south to Brazil. It is rather common at Havana, but was not found by us in Porto Rico. It grows to a foot in length and is a good food-fish.
1903, David Starr Jordan, Barton Warren Evermann, American Food and Game Fishes: A Popular Account of All the Species Found in America North of the Equator, with Keys for Ready Identification, Life Histories and Methods of Capture, page 4251 more example
Cottonwick (jeniguana) Not a common fish but a handsome sight to see because of its bold, scissor-like dorsal and tail stripes and the bandit-like mask which usually conceals the eye. Some fishes lack the eye stripe.
1976, Gar Goodson, The Many-splendored Fishes of the Atlantic Coast: Including the Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean : 408 Fishes in Full Color
Origin
- Spanish[Term?]
- Englishjeniguana
Said by Century to be from Cuban Spanish [Term?] "from a native West Indian name".
More words from Spanish
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
jeniguana. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jeniguana
“jeniguana.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jeniguana. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jeniguana,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jeniguana.
Source: jeniguana on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.