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assfish

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From ass +‎ fish, probably from a mistranslation of onus in the genus name Acanthonus, which is from Ancient Greek ἄκανθος (ákanthos, “acanthus”, literally “prickly flower”) + ὄνος (ónos, “hake”): the latter word can mean either an ass (donkey) or less commonly a type of fish.[1]

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. only explains the Acanthonus sense

Noun

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assfish (countable and uncountable, plural assfish or assfishes)

  1. Any of several types of fish:
    1. bony-eared assfish, Acanthonus armatus
    2. cavernous assfish, Porogadus gracilis
    3. any of various species in the genus Bassozetus:
      1. robust assfish, Bassozetus robustus
      2. abyssal assfish, Bassozetus compressus or Bassozetus elongatus

Further reading

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References

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  1. ^ Liz Langley (2016 March 12) “What'd You Call Me? Meet the Bony-Eared Assfish”, in Weird Animal Question of the Week‎[1], National Geographic
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