lionfish

noun

li·​on·​fish ˈlī-ən-ˌfish How to pronounce lionfish (audio)
: any of several scorpaenid fishes (genus Pterois) of the Indian Ocean and the tropical Pacific that are brilliantly striped and barred with elongated fins and venomous dorsal spines

Examples of lionfish in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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In the Northwest Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, invasive lionfish, native to Asia and Australia, have spread, preying on native fish essential to coral reefs. Christine Keiner, The Conversation, 28 Feb. 2025 Atop the coral was a cloud of small baitfish surrounding a very pretty lionfish. Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 25 Feb. 2025 The incident comes three months after Cayman Islands authorities issued an advisory that said sharks have learned to associate scuba divers with food, after a diver who was carrying a lionfish culling spear and an empty bucket was closely approached by a shark. Anna Lazarus Caplan, People.com, 14 Feb. 2025 The design is inspired by a 2019 project to build a soft robot in the form of a mechanical lionfish, Cornell says, but improved. John Koetsier, Forbes, 29 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for lionfish

Word History

First Known Use

1848, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of lionfish was in 1848

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Cite this Entry

“Lionfish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lionfish. Accessed 10 Mar. 2025.

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