spadefish

[ speyd-fish ]
/ ˈspeɪdˌfɪʃ /

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

a deep-bodied marine fish of the genus Chaetodipterus, especially C. faber, of Atlantic coastal waters of North America.

Origin of spadefish

1695–1705; probably spade2 + fish, in allusion to its shape

British Dictionary definitions for spadefish

spadefish
/ (ˈspeɪdˌfɪʃ) /

noun plural -fish or -fishes

any spiny-finned food fish of the family Ephippidae, esp Chaetodipterus faber of American Atlantic coastal waters, having a deeply compressed body