devilfish

Noun

devilfish (plural devilfishes or devilfish)

1. (dated) The octopus.
   • The unattractive reptilian specimen in the man’s right hand is an octopus, or devilfish, which constitutes a favorite dish with the Asiatics of the islands.1899, Jose de Olivares, Our Islands and Their People as Seen with Camera and Pencil, St. Louis, M.O.; New York, N.Y.: Thompson Pub. Co, page 470
   • We have all heard of the octopus or devil-fish, with its long arms covered with powerful suckers, which is always waiting to seize the unsuspecting, choke and bite him, always grasping with another arm when the grip of one of them is loosened—suitable symbol of the trust.1913, Victor Ernest Shelford, Animal Communities in Temperate America, Chicago, I.L.: University of Chicago Press, page 5
2. (dated) The giant squid or kraken.
   • It can easily be imagined that such creatures as these could drown a man, or upset a boat, and they have furnished material for many fabulous accounts of sea-serpents and devil-fishes.1880, James Henry Emerton, Life on the Seashore, Or, Animals of Our Coasts and Bay, Salem, M.A.: George A. Bates, page 94
   • At the bottom of the story of Skylla may lie a sailor's tale of the kraken or devil-fish, which sometimes grows to a gigantic size; Charybdis is obviously nothing but a dangerous whirlpool.1901, H[ermann] Steuding, translated by Lionel D. Barnett, Greek and Roman mythology and Heroic Legend, London: Dent, page 53
3. (dated) The gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus.
   • The California gray whale, or devil-fish (Rhachianectes glaucus), is found only in the North Pacific, and is an object of pursuit by the shore stations established along that coast.1887, A. Howard Clark, “The American-Whale Fishery”, in Science, volume 9, number 217, New York, N.Y.: American Association for the Advancement of Science, page 323
   • The Sarah Warren returned with 1,100 bbls. of "devil fish" oil and 60 bbls. of sperm oil, and her tender, the Nevada, returned with 74, bbls. of whale oil.1972, David A. Henderson, Men & Whales at Scammon's Lagoon, Los Angeles, C.A.: Dawson's Book Shop, →ISBN, page 270
4. (dated) The piranha.
   • The same carnivorous instincts are likewise attributed to the devil-fish, or piranha so common in the Rio San Francisco, and the terror of bathers.1860, “Paraguay”, in The New Monthly Magazine, volume 119, London: Chapman & Hall, page 461
   • It is a kind of sturgeon, scaleless, spotted and marbled, flat-muzzled and whiskered, like the "cats" (Silurus), which drown the negro boys fishing in the Mississippi waters, and ugly as any "devil-fish".1869, Richard Francis Burton, Explorations of the Highlands of the Brazil, volume 2, London: Tinsley Brothers, page 162
5. (dated) The anglerfish, Lophius piscatorius.
   • The American angler, or devil fish, which was placed In the Aquarium on Tuesday, was found dead in the tank yesterday morning. Mr. Coup, the manager, is making great effort to procure another specimen, as well as some strange fish from South America.1876 November 16, “City and Suburban News”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2
   • The four successful trawls yielded us examples of the Angler or Devil-fish, Lophius piscatorius; […]1896, Arthur Watts, “Address to the Members of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club”, in Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-on-Tyne, volume 13...
6. (dated) The suckermouth catfish, Hypostomus plecostomus (translating Spanish pez diablo).
   • In the rivers of southern Mexico, a lizard-like fish with armor for skin has taken over the habitat of the native fish like róbalo and mojarra. Locals call it the pez diablo, or devil fish, and long assumed it was poisonous.[2018 July 2, Tara Duggan, “Bay Area men’s plan to market invasive fish from Mexico hits snag in U.S.”, in San Francisco Chronicle, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2022
   • But a U.S. law, aimed at protecting American catfish farmers from cheaper Asian imports, means there is effectively a ban on foreign catfish‚ including the suckermouth or devil fish, from entering the U.S.2018 July 19, “Entrepreneurs hope to sell Mexico's 'devil fish' to Canadians as a sustainable snack”, in CBC News, archived from the original on 03 Feb 2023
7. (dated) The manta ray; any ray in the genus Mobula.
   • Elliott's "South Carolina Field Sports" is a very interesting and entirely trustworthy record of the sporting side of existence on the old Southern plantations, and not only commemorates how the planters hunted bear, deer, fox, and wildcat in the cane-brakes, but also gives a unique description of...1893, Theodore Roosevelt, George Bird Grinnell, American Big-game Hunting: The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club, New York, N.Y.: Forest and Stream Publishing Co, page 323
   • The Tectospondyli contains those dog-fishes which have no anal fin, and the rays and devil-fishes.1901, William Plane Pycraft, The Story Of Fish Life, London: George Newnes, page 173
8. (dated, specifically) The devil ray, Mobula mobular.
9. (dated) Certain fish in the genus Paraplesiops; see blue devilfish, Bleeker's devilfish.
   • Devilfish are rather shy and difficult to approach. However, patience and perseverence^([sic]) usually pay off.1989, Heinz-Gert de Couet, Andrew Green, The Manual of Underwater Photography, Viesbaden, Germany: Verlag Christa Hemmen, →ISBN, page 214
   • Another closely related marine family, the Indo-Pacific Plesiopidae (roundheads), are well represented in Australian waters, with such familiar and brightly colored species as the hulafishes (Trachinops), devilfishes (Paraplesiops), and longfins (Plesiops).1994, John R. Paxton, William N. Eschmeyer, Encyclopedia of Fishes, San Diego, C.A.: Academic Press, published 1995, →ISBN, page 185