A small tropical fish with a boxy body shape and horn-like projections on its head, related to pufferfish.
Compound word from 'cow' (possibly referring to the horned projections resembling cow horns) plus 'fish'. The name likely arose from observation of the fish's distinctive horn-like appendages that resemble cattle horns.
Cowfish are named for their horn-like projections, showing how early naturalists named creatures by comparing them to familiar farm animals—a pattern that gave us seahorses, catfish, and dogfish too!
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