clingfish

[kling-fish]

cling·fish

[kling-fish]
noun, plural (especially collectively) cling·fish, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) cling·fish·es.
any fish of the family Gobiesocidae, having a sucking disk on the abdomen for clinging to stones, debris, etc.

Origin:
1890–95; cling1 + fish
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Clingfish is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
Collins
World English Dictionary
clingfish (ˈklɪŋˌfɪʃ)
 
n , pl -fish, -fishes
any small marine teleost fish of the family Gobiesocidae, having a flattened elongated body with a sucking disc beneath the head for clinging to rocks, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

clingfish

any of about 100 species of small fishes of the family Gobiesocidae and the order Gobiesociformes. Clingfishes are characterized by a strong suction disk located on the undersurface and formed by the pelvic fins and adjacent folds of flesh. They are scaleless fishes and have wide, flattened heads. Most species are about 7.5 cm (3 inches) or less in length, though the South African Chorisochismus dentex is up to 30 cm (12 inches) long. Some of the tropical American clingfishes of the genus Gobiesox live in rapid streams, but most clingfishes inhabit the sea, living in the intertidal zone and maintaining a hold on the bottom with the sucking disk

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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