muttonfish

English

Etymology

From mutton +‎ fish.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

muttonfish (plural muttonfish or muttonfishes)

1. (chiefly US) Any of several Atlantic and Caribbean fishes which are said to taste of mutton, especially a mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis), an ocean pout (Macrozoarces americanus), or an Irish pompano (Diapterus auratus). [from 18th c.]
2. (Australia) Any of several edible molluscs of the genus Haliotis; an abalone. [from 19th c.]
   • 1993, Tim Winton, Land's Edge, Picador, published 2014, page 28:

     Some mornings when the tide was right out we went onto the reef with screwdrivers to prise off abalone, which we called muttonfish.