mudsucker

[ muhd-suhk-er ]

noun

1. a goby, Gillichthys mirabilis, of California, used as bait.

Word History and Origins

Origin of mudsucker¹

First recorded in 1680–90; mud + sucker

Example Sentences

It’s a delta mudsucker, he said, a species that has been rebounding.

From Los Angeles Times

At the species level there are more than 1000 plants and animals with the species designation mirabilis, from the nursery web spider Pisaura mirabilis to the longjaw mudsucker fish Gillichthys mirabilis to this crazy looking sea slug.

From Scientific American

There was a Yankee from Maine, a Digger from the hills of North Carolina, a Mudsucker from Illinois, and all kinds of Corncrackers from Kentucky, besides a fine old Englishman and a sturdy German; and they told the Newcomer boys that the school-teacher was a Scotchman who talked through his nose and said lots of funny things, and that further up the creek lived a Manxman by the name of Quayle.

From Project Gutenberg