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hogfish

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hog⋅fish

[hawg-fish, hog-]
–noun, plural (especially collectively) -fish, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) -fish⋅es.
1. a large wrasse, Lachnolaimus maximus, of the western Atlantic Ocean, used for food.
2. any of various other fishes having a fancied resemblance to a hog, as the pigfish and logperch.

Origin:
1590–1600; trans. of ML porcopiscis porpoise. See hog, fish
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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hog·fish   (hôg'fĭsh', hŏg'-)   
n.   pl. hogfish or hog·fish·es
  1. A colorful fish (Lachnolaimus maximus) of warm Atlantic waters, having a long snout in the adult male.

  2. See pigfish.

pig·fish   (pĭg'fĭsh')   
n.   pl. pigfish or pig·fish·es
A North American grunt (Orthopristis chrysoptera) with a piglike mouth, found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States and important as a food fish. Also called hogfish.

[From the grunting sound it makes.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Encyclopedia

hogfish

any of certain species of fishes in the wrasse family, Labridae (order Perciformes). Although representatives of the family are found in tropical to temperate oceans throughout the world, the hogfishes occur only in the Atlantic, predominantly in the West Indies

Learn more about hogfish with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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