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Glite Dictionary
🐛 A silver insect 🐟 A silver fish
silverfish

silverfish

5.8
A silvery goldfish often kept in a home fish tank
  • noun
  • /ˈsɪlvərˌfɪʃ/
translation icon : pez de colores
  • During the 1990s, Japanese firms introduced into Lake Erhai an exotic species of silverfish (Neosalanx tangkehkeii taihuensis).

Examples

  • Lake Erhai was an ideal environment for silverfish, which thrive in nutrient-rich waters.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Over the past decade, native species of salmonids and coregonids have increasingly been replaced by silverfish, as well as by cyprinids such as carp.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Considered a delicacy in Japan, silverfish represent a new and profitable resource for the regional economy; however, the new species has profoundly altered ecological conditions in the lake and has created stiff competition for the cormorant fishery.

    Academic text (2002)

  • In the aquarium, the shiny silverfish swam gracefully among the colorful plants.

  • The pet store had a tank full of silverfish for novice fish keepers.

  • We watched as the silverfish darted around, showing off its beautiful silvery scales.

Synonyms

goldfish
vssilverfish
60 1.0

A small orange pet fish often kept in bowls or aquariums

is a silvery variety of that fish rather than the typical golden color
Carassius auratus
vssilverfish
  • Specialized
3.9

A small golden or orange freshwater fish often kept in ponds and aquariums

refers to a silvery variety of that species rather than the species generally

Surface Forms

silverfish singular
silverfishes plural

Morphology

silverfish = silver + fish (transparent) = silver + fish

The meaning is a literal compound: a fish that is silver in colour, so learners who know 'silver' and 'fish' can derive the sense.

Etymology

Silverfish for the aquarium animal is simply silver ('shiny grey colour') and fish, so it means a fish that looks silver, like a 'silver' cousin of the goldfish.