porcupine fish

See also: porcupinefish

English

porcupine fish

Alternative forms

• porcupinefish

Noun

porcupine fish (plural porcupine fish or porcupine fishes)

1. 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