ˈpilot-fish
[f. pilot n. + fish n.1]
1. A small carangoid fish of warm seas, Naucrates ductor, reputed to act as a pilot or guide to the shark; it is of a silvery blue colour, with dark vertical bars upon the back.
| 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 5 Sharkes..are alwayes directed by a little specled fish, called a pilot fish, by guiding their Monster-masters to a prey. 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 27 Pilot-Fishes, which the Shark, tho' never so hungry, does not devour. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xli, When you meet the pilot-fish, the shark arn't far off, you know. 1835 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XII. 185/1 Naucrates ductor, the famous pilot-fish of navigators.., so named from its habit of keeping company with ships at sea, and frequently swimming beneath their bows. |
2. Applied to other fishes: a. A general term for the Carangidæ, as the amber-fish (Seriola dorsalis), or the rudder-fish (Seriola zonata); b. The remora or sucking-fish (Echeneis); c. The round-fish (Coregonus quadrilateralis).
| 1792 M. Riddell Voy. Madeira 69 The pilot or rudder fish. [1835 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XII. 186/1 The name of pilot has been bestowed on various other fishes, and the genus Naucrates itself contains several species.] |