angel-fish
A fish of the Squalidæ or Shark family, found on the British coasts, having also an affinity to the Rays. It receives this name from the wing-like expansion of its pectoral fins; also called Monk-fish, Fiddle-fish, and Shark-ray. Also applied to various other fish, such as Pterophyllum scalare and some species of the family Chætodontidæ or Ephippidæ (mainly those in N. and Central American Atlantic waters).
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. v. §3. 133 Of fish..Viviparous..5. Scate, Angel-fish. 1784 Andre in Phil. Trans. LXXIV. 274 Slender flexible teeth in the chætodontes, or angel-fishes. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. ii. ix. 213 Of fish not eaten, the sword-fish..and the angel-fish, are the most remarkable among large species. 1873 T. Gill Catal. Fishes East Coast N. Amer. 24 Chaetodontidae..angel-fish (Berm.) West Indies; occasional northwards. Ibid. 29 Ephippidae..Moon-fish; angel-fish (South Carolina). 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes xviii. 146 The Moon-fish, Chætodipterus faber, is..abundant... In the northern parts of Mexico it is called ‘Spade-fish’; from Florida to Charleston the Angel-fish. 1905 D. S. Jordan Stud. Fishes II. xxiii. 404 The angel-fish or isabelita (Holacanthus ciliaris), orange-red, sky-blue, and golden, as though gaudily painted, is the best known species [of the family Chætodontidæ]. 1931 J. R. Norman Hist. Fishes ii. 16 The beautiful Angel-fish (Pterophyllum) of the rivers of South America, a familiar object in aquaria, has a very much compressed and almost circular body. 1962 Listener 22 Nov. 852/2 My black-and-silver lace angel fish was a most appealing wide-eyed beauty. |