moonfish

[ moon-fish ]

noun

, plural (especially collectively) moon·fish, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) moon·fish·es.

1. Also called horsefish, horsehead. any of several silvery marine fishes of the genus Selene, having a very compressed body and inhabiting shallow coastal waters.
2. the opah.
3. any of various other rounded, silvery fishes.

moonfish

/ ˈmuːnˌfɪʃ /

noun

1. any of several deep-bodied silvery carangid fishes, occurring in warm and tropical American coastal waters
2. any of various other round silvery fishes, such as the Indo-Pacific Monodactylus argenteus
3. another name for opah

Word History and Origins

Origin of moonfish¹

First recorded in 1640–50; moon + fish

Example Sentences

Into hundreds of plastic pails lined up in rows, they tossed grouper, barracuda, tuna, flying fish, moonfish and sardines: 300 tons of fish on an average day.

From New York Times

Local news outlets report Capt. Austin Ensor and his three crew members set sail Sunday and are believed to have caught the moonfish off Ocean City.

From Washington Times

A photographer got a lucky shot of an opah, or moonfish, off southern California in 2014, we reported in February.

From National Geographic

On Thursday the load of fresh fish was light, about 9,000 pounds of ahi tuna, swordfish, moonfish, and other species.

From Washington Times

To confirm that these special gills helped the opah stay toasty, the researchers tagged a number of moonfish with temperature monitors and tracked the fish as they dove.

From Scientific American