porcupine fish

See also: porcupinefish

English

porcupine fish

Alternative forms

porcupinefish

Noun

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Any of several tropical fish species in the family Diodontidae that are covered with sharp spines and inflate themselves when threatened. [from 17th c.]
- 2001, Richard Flanagan, Gould's Book of Fish, Vintage, published 2016, page 161:
  I took a knife down from where it hung on the side of the fireplace, & place the sharp tip against the taut body of the porcupine fish.

Translations

a fish species that inflates itself when threatened to expose spines

Finnish: siilikala
German: Igelfisch m
Maori: kōpūtōtara
Mokilese: joi
Portuguese: baiacu m

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