Any fish that has characteristics similar to an eel, such as an elongated body and slippery skin.
Compound of 'eel' and 'fish' (Old English 'fisc'). A descriptive term used by naturalists when actual eels and eel-like species needed to be distinguished.
The term 'eelfish' shows how before scientific naming, people used double-barreled common names to distinguish similar creatures—it's the linguistic ancestor of names like 'electric eel' and 'snake eel.'
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