trunk·fish

(trŭngk′fĭsh′)

n. pl. trunkfish or trunk·fish·es

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

trunkfish

(ˈtrʌŋkˌfɪʃ)

n, pl -fish or -fishes

(Animals) any tropical plectognath fish of the family Ostraciidae, having the body encased in bony plates with openings for the fins, eyes, mouth, etc. Also called: boxfish or cowfish

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

trunk•fish

(ˈtrʌŋkˌfɪʃ)

n., pl. (esp. collectively) -fish, (esp. for kinds or species) -fish•es.

any of various fishes of the family Ostraciidae, of warm seas, that have a boxlike body within bony plates.

[1795–1805]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

trunkfish - any of numerous small tropical fishes having body and head encased in bony plates

boxfish

plectognath, plectognath fish - tropical marine fishes having the teeth fused into a beak and thick skin covered with bony plates or spines

family Ostraciidae, family Ostraciontidae, Ostraciidae - boxfishes

cowfish, Lactophrys quadricornis - trunkfish having hornlike spines over the eyes

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References in periodicals archive

In 1972, I saw bigeyefish, damselfish, doctorfish, filefish, goatfish, gobies, hogfish, lemon butterflyfish, lizardfish, parrottfish, porcupinefish, pufferfish, queen angelfish, rock beauties, sergeant majors, soldierfish, spot-tail butterflyfish, Spanish hogfish, squirrelfish, tangs, trunkfish, and bluehead or yellowhead wrasses.

Up-close view of climate change proves sobering: Observing diminished fish population in Hanauma Bay makes talk about global warming more than just theory

Other fish on my dive list included Black-bordered Dascyllus, Cube Trunkfish and a shoal of Doublebar Bream.

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A greater percentage of households consumed snapper, grouper, hogfish, triggerfish, jack, trunkfish, and barracuda during 2006 than during 2005 (Table 2).

Assessing the incidence of ciguatera fish poisoning with two surveys conducted in Culebra, Puerto Rico, during 2005 and 2006

An ichthyotoxic protein in the defensive skin secretion of the Red Sea trunkfish Ostracion cubicus.

First record of the cube boxfish Ostracion cubicus (Ostraciidae) and additional records of Champsodon vorax (Champsodontidae) from the Mediterranean

Occurrence of a unique color morph in the smooth trunkfish (Lactophrys triqueter L.) at the Flower Garden Banks and Stetson Bank, Northwest Gulf of Mexico.

Low but stable frequency of xanthic phenotypes in a population of the twoline pupfish, Cyprinodon bifasciatus