perchling

plural perchlings

1. A diminutive or young perch (fish)

   Guzzling upon your perchlings and sprats […]

   1957, John M. Edmonds, The Fragments of Attic Comedy, page 229

   3 more examples

   For a little while we had fish, small fry, of all sorts and sizes - gudgeon, little perchlings, minnows, anything - all was fish which came to net; but, the worst of it was, there was not much which did so.

   1871, George T. Robinson, The Fall of Metz

   […] well, don't these teeth enjoy crunching shadflybyes, crisp miniminnows, succulent crazyfish, tender snallywaggle snails, luscious leeches, juicy yellow perchlings and even...fresh off-the-bone catfiskie fillets — but only upon occasion, of course.

   2021, Rae St. Clair Bridgman, Fish & Sphinx, page 190

   To live there always, I thought, would be bliss, provided that Philip was with me, always in a house covered with ivy and conducted by an aunt who baked and fried for you and tied up your cuts, and would clean half a hundred perchlings for you without a murmur, though by the end of it her face and the adjacent windows were covered with the flying scales.

   2023, Edward Thomas, The Happy-go-lucky Morgans, page 72