Noun
Any of several not closely related marine animals: The octopus.
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The unattractive reptilian specimen in the man’s right hand is an octopus, or devilfish, which constitutes a favorite dish with the Asiatics of the islands.
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We have all heard of the octopus or devil-fish, with its long arms covered with powerful suckers, which is always waiting to seize the unsuspecting, choke and bite him, always grasping with another arm when the grip of one of them is loosened—suitable symbol of the trust.
The devilfish felt the menace of his attitude, and his two longest tentacles began to writhe in the air, as he measured our distance.
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The devilfishes, or octopuses, vary from 2 inches to 28 feet in spread. They have a flexible bulbous body without a shell and eight long sucker-bearing tentacles.
This bloody tinge drew the attention of a giant octopus, or "devilfish," who lived in the deep. Rising to the surface, "looking very white" (as a dead tentacle does, though a live octopus does not), it extended a single mammoth tentacle, encircled the fish camp, and swept it into the sea, gorging itself on the people and smashing their canoes.
Any of several not closely related marine animals: The giant squid or kraken.
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It can easily be imagined that such creatures as these could drown a man, or upset a boat, and they have furnished material for many fabulous accounts of sea-serpents and devil-fishes.
At the bottom of the story of Skylla may lie a sailor's tale of the kraken or devil-fish, which sometimes grows to a gigantic size; Charybdis is obviously nothing but a dangerous whirlpool.
Devilfishes have been discovered in various seas, which weighed several hundred pounds, and whose length ranged from fifty to seventy or more feet.
"Doctor," inquired Charley, "would you call the kraken or devil-fish a legendary or real sea-serpent?"
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The Horror had besides eight or ten long tentacles studded with suckers like those of the giant squid or devil-fish. These measured at least thirty feet—thick as a man's thigh near the creature's body, fining down at their extremities like the tip of an elephant's trunk.
Old books--many of them dating back to the last two centuries--contain pictures and descriptions of huge devilfishes overwhelming and capsizing ships with their tentacles.
The trail led through a scrub pine forest where we tripped over bare roots of trees that curled over and around rocks and boulders like great devilfishes.
Today they are represented by only a few hundred species, but these include such fascinating animals as the octopus, the giant devilfish (or giant squid, which is the largest animal without a backbone), the paper nautilus, and the pearly nautilus.
Any of several not closely related marine animals: The gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus.
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The California gray whale, or devil-fish (Rhachianectes glaucus), is found only in the North Pacific, and is an object of pursuit by the shore stations established along that coast.
The Sarah Warren returned with 1,100 bbls. of "devil fish" oil and 60 bbls. of sperm oil, and her tender, the Nevada, returned with 74, bbls. of whale oil.
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Returning, arrived at Honolulu on April 6, with 330 barrels of devil fish oil. Discharged cargo and left again for the Arctic region the latter part of July, 1867, returning the latter part of October, with 850 barrels of oil.
Although twice the size of the killers and correspondingly strong, when one of the orcas appears the devilfish become terrified and either wildly dash for shore or turn belly up at the surface, with fins outspread, paralyzed by fright.
Any of several not closely related marine animals: The piranha.
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The same carnivorous instincts are likewise attributed to the devil-fish, or piranha so common in the Rio San Francisco, and the terror of bathers.
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It is a kind of sturgeon, scaleless, spotted and marbled, flat-muzzled and whiskered, like the "cats" (Silurus), which drown the negro boys fishing in the Mississippi waters, and ugly as any "devil-fish".
The body of her husband was rescued from the sharks and devil-fishes, and brought ashore for interment, with every mark of respect.
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A court will decide sometime this year whether the piranha—South America’s deadly "devil fish" — can be a welcomed guest in California homes.
Any of several not closely related marine animals: The anglerfish, Lophius piscatorius.
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The American angler, or devil fish, which was placed In the Aquarium on Tuesday, was found dead in the tank yesterday morning. Mr. Coup, the manager, is making great effort to procure another specimen, as well as some strange fish from South America.
The four successful trawls yielded us examples of the Angler or Devil-fish, Lophius piscatorius; […]
Vertical section through the freshly enucleated frozen eye of a devil-fish (Lophius piscatorius).
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Rock pools are a haven for crabs, crayfish, shrimp and devil fish.
Any of several not closely related marine animals: The suckermouth catfish, Hypostomus plecostomus (translating Spanish pez diablo).
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In the rivers of southern Mexico, a lizard-like fish with armor for skin has taken over the habitat of the native fish like róbalo and mojarra. Locals call it the pez diablo, or devil fish, and long assumed it was poisonous.
But a U.S. law, aimed at protecting American catfish farmers from cheaper Asian imports, means there is effectively a ban on foreign catfish‚ including the suckermouth or devil fish, from entering the U.S.
Devilfish is an invasive species of the Loricariidae family native to South America of the Amazon basin, but it has been introduced in several countries, as in Mexico. Devilfish has become an environmental problem in the country, at least in the last 20 years.
In another alarm of nature spiraling to hell in Florida, scientists suspect global warming has enabled devil fish to plague and ravage the St. Johns River.
Any of several not closely related marine animals: The manta ray; any ray in the genus Mobula.
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Elliott's "South Carolina Field Sports" is a very interesting and entirely trustworthy record of the sporting side of existence on the old Southern plantations, and not only commemorates how the planters hunted bear, deer, fox, and wildcat in the cane-brakes, but also gives a unique description of harpooning the devil-fish in the warm Southern waters.
The Tectospondyli contains those dog-fishes which have no anal fin, and the rays and devil-fishes.
There the great ray, the devilfish, powerful, swift, mighty, tons in weight, spreads his huge black wings; […]
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Indeed the same time-worn phrase if considered horizontally would be less than the actual fact if applied to some of the devilfish or giant rays which we saw.
Viennese marine biologist Han Haas lived for six months on an Arab fishing boat on the Red Sea in 120 degree heat. He bumped noses with sharks and deadly devil fish while he photographed the briny deep.
Thinking a whale had just sounded after hitting the water with its tail, I was about to turn away from it, when, like a great white owl, thirty feet across, and half as much from nose to tail, a gigantic eagle-ray or devil-fish, leaped silently out of the water, with its wings spread wide, planed for a short distance, and struck the water flat, with a similar detonation.
The largest rays, like the largest sharks, are plankton strainers. Devilfishes or manta rays of the family Mobulidae are up to 6 meters in width.
These "devil fish" may have seemed terrifying then, but these days, the opportunity to swim with manta rays lures divers to Tobago, Trinidad's smaller, less-developed neighbor.
Any of several not closely related marine animals: The manta ray; any ray in the genus Mobula. The devil ray, Mobula mobular.
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Any of several not closely related marine animals: Certain fish in the genus Paraplesiops; see blue devilfish, Bleeker's devilfish.
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Devilfish are rather shy and difficult to approach. However, patience and perseverence^([sic]) usually pay off.
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Another closely related marine family, the Indo-Pacific Plesiopidae (roundheads), are well represented in Australian waters, with such familiar and brightly colored species as the hulafishes (Trachinops), devilfishes (Paraplesiops), and longfins (Plesiops).
Noun
medium-sized greyish-black whale of the northern Pacific
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bottom-living cephalopod having a soft oval body with eight long tentacles
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extremely large pelagic tropical ray that feeds on plankton and small fishes; usually harmless but its size make it dangerous if harpooned
- Broader terms