brusher, noun

Plurals:
unchanged.
Origin:
Unknown.
Especially in KwaZulu-Natal: the white musselcracker (see musselcracker sense 2), Sparodon durbanensis.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 92Brusher, The Natal name for a large species of Sargus.
1930 C.L. Biden Sea-Angling Fishes 180A larger fish that is evidently the Cape white biskop, otherwise known as ‘brusher’ at Natal.
1949 J.L.B. Smith Sea Fishes of Sn Afr. 268Sparodon durbanensis (Castlenau)...Brusher (Eastern Cape — Natal).
1955 C. Horne Fisherman’s Eldorado 210Natal anglers, differing from those at Port Elizabeth, call the black one musselcracker or John Cracker, the brilliant blue and silver fish they name Brusher...Many Natal anglers would probably correctly associate the names of white biskop and black biskop with the fish they know as brusher or musselcracker.
1970 Daily News 5 Oct. 5Highlight spot of the past week’s fishing in and around Durban has again been the South Pier, from which some excellent catches of brusher — Sparodon Durbanensis..have been made in deep water around its end.
1970 Sunday Times 8 Feb. (Mag. Sect.) 5A catch of reef fish topping 700 lb., a mixed bag of springer, soldier, rock cod, brusher and just about a bit of everything.
1990 M. Holmes in E. Prov. Herald 14 Sept. 18In those days the Natalians knew poenskop as musselcracker. The musselcrackers were in turn known as brushers.
1993 R. Van der Elst Guide to Common Sea Fishes 369Sparodon durbanensis..white musselcracker, brusher, white biskop.
Especially in KwaZulu-Natal: the white musselcracker (see musselcracker sense 2), Sparodon durbanensis.
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