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Glite Dictionary
🌊 A deep-sea fish 🐠 A tropical fish
rabbitfish

rabbitfish

1 7.4
A tropical fish with a face like a rabbit that lives near coral reefs
  • noun
  • /ˈræbɪtˌfɪʃ/
  • Specialized
: pez conejo
  • While snorkeling in the Caribbean, we were excited to see a school of rabbitfish swimming gracefully near the coral reef.

Examples

  • Turtles and giant pufferfish enjoy this spot, as do catfish, hundreds of yellow rabbitfish, boring clams, and Christmas tree worms.

    Blog text (3)

  • At the southernmost end of this beach are rocks where snorkelers swim with schools of colorful rabbitfish, sergeant fish, and parrot fish.

    Blog text (7)

  • The aquarium has a special exhibit featuring a colorful rabbitfish that attracts many visitors.

  • I love how the rabbitfish blend in with the vibrant coral in their natural habitat.

Surface Forms

rabbitfish singular
rabbitfishes plural

Morphology

rabbitfish = rabbit + fish (transparent) = rabbit + fish

The compound denotes a fish characterized by a rabbit-like face, so the meaning is directly inferable from its parts for typical learners.

Etymology

Rabbitfish gets its name from the tropical fish's 'rabbit-like' face and the way it often 'grazes' on algae like a rabbit eats plants, so people combined rabbit and fish. That's why a rabbitfish is a colorful reef fish with a mouth and behaviour that remind you of a rabbit.