rock-cod, noun

Plurals:
unchanged, or rock-cods.
Any of a number of fishes of the family Serranidae, so called because they live mainly among rocks or coral.
1856 Cape of G.H. Almanac & Annual Register 283Fish abound in the river and in the bay. The mullet rock cod and Cape Salmon, are most esteemed.
1891 R. Monteiro Delagoa Bay 151The rock cod..are especially good.
1930 C.L. Biden Sea-Angling Fishes 272There are thirty kinds of rock-cod on the South African coast.
1949 J.L.B. Smith Sea Fishes of Sn Afr. 189Family Serranidae. Rock-cods. Groupers. Garrupas...All are excellent eating, many with delicate flesh,..some are strikingly or beautifully coloured.
1963 Rand Daily Mail 17 May 23A 4-lb rock cod tackled and swallowed a 4-ft green mamba.
1973 J.L.B. Smith in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. IX. 387Rock Cods (Serranidae)...They live mostly among rocks and are fishes of warmer waters. In Southern African seas 40 species are known, ranging from tiny fishes to giants like the brindle bass.
1989 ‘Jack the Fish’ in Stanger Mail 3 Feb. 8The ski-boats have been having a lean time recently...Catches have been restricted to small salmon, grunter and rock-cod.
1990 M. Holmes in E. Prov. Herald 31 Aug. 26A 3kg Catface Rockcod, a fish which normally makes one reef its home.
Any of a number of fishes of the family Serranidae, so called because they live mainly among rocks or coral.
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rock, verb intransitivev.rock-fish, nounn.
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