bottom lurker
- noun
:
pez de fondo
- Some bottom lurkers use camouflage to blend in with sand or rocks on the lakebed.
Examples
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The angler was hoping to catch a bottom lurker like a catfish or a flounder.
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Aquariums often contain bottom lurkers to help keep the tank clean and balanced.
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The bottom lurker waited patiently for its next meal.
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Many bottom lurkers can be found in freshwater lakes.
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The angler was hoping to catch a bottom lurker like a catfish or a flounder.
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Some bottom lurkers use camouflage to blend in with sand or rocks on the lakebed.
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Aquariums often contain bottom lurkers to help keep the tank clean and balanced.
Synonyms
1
4.6
A fish that lives near the sea floor, like cod or haddock
A fish that lives near the bottom of lakes, rivers, or the sea
An animal like a fish that lives and eats on the bottom of a lake, river, or sea
How Hidden
Surface Forms
Morphology
bottom + lurker
The meaning is directly compositional: 'bottom' (the lowest surface) + 'lurker' (one who lurks or stays hidden) yields an entity that hides or lives at the bottom. This place+agent combination is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Bottom lurker comes from the simple picture of a fish that lies on the water's floor and waits very still for food; bottom names the floor and lurker is someone who 'hides' quietly. So, it means 'a fish that lives close to or hides on the bottom of a lake, river, or tank'.