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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Wrasse

Wrasse \Wrasse\, n. [W. gwrachen.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous edible, marine, spiny-finned fishes of the genus Labrus, of which several species are found in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic coast of Europe. Many of the species are bright-colored.

Note: Among the European species are the ballan wrasse ( Labrus maculatus), the streaked wrasse ( Labrus lineatus), the red wrasse ( Labrus mixtus), the comber wrasse ( Labrus comber), the blue-striped, or cook, wrasse (see Peacock fish, under Peacock), the rainbow wrasse ( Labrus vulgaris), and the seawife.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
wrasse

type of salt-water fish, 1670s, from Cornish wrach, related to Welsh gurach.

Wiktionary
wrasse

n. Any one of numerous edible, marine, spiny-finned fishes of the family Labridae, of which several species are found in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic coast of Europe. Many of the species are bright-colored.

WordNet
wrasse

n. chiefly tropical marine fishes with fleshy lips and powerful teeth; usually brightly colored

Wikipedia
Wrasse

The wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with over 600 species in 82 genera, which are divided into 9 subgroups or tribes. They are typically small fish, most of them less than long, although the largest, the humphead wrasse, can measure up to . They are efficient carnivores, feeding on a wide range of small invertebrates. Many smaller wrasses follow the feeding trails of larger fish, picking up invertebrates disturbed by their passing. Juveniles of some representatives of the genera Bodianus, Epibulus, Cirrhilabrus, Oxycheilinus, and Paracheilinus hide among the tentacles of the free-living mushroom coral Heliofungia actiniformis.

The word "wrasse" comes from the Cornish word wragh, a lenited form of gwragh, meaning an old woman or hag, via Cornish dialect wrath. It is related to the Welsh gwrach and Breton gwrac'h.

Wrasse (disambiguation)

Wrasse may refer to:

  • Wrasse, type of marine fish
  • Wrasse Records, UK-based record label

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Usage examples of "wrasse".

When he worked on a shipwreck, goatfish dug in the sand beside him, rays skittered across the bottom, and there was always the tiny danger that some nearsighted wrasse would take a bite from his earlobe.

Lexi loved the sea urchins that lurked like dark black blobs in the sea, and she never seemed to tire of watching the mullet and bream and wrasse swimming lazily by beneath their dangling feet.

Robin managed to get one large, late coming pink-and-yellow wrasse to nibble at her fingers.

Or a crimson-speckled wrasse browsing the spines of a tropical coral bed.

Robin managed to get one large, latecoming, pink-and-yellow wrasse to nibble at her fingers.

For example, the blue-headed wrasse is a fish that lives on coral reefs.

Small cleaner wrasse nibbling at the skin so her blood oozed like green ink.

Strachan watched him recoil as a giant Napoleon wrasse erupted from it.

He showed me an underwater grotto, a light-shafted nave of pale blue shadows, where the large wrasse floated as if in a trance.

I wished him luck with the bass and the wrasse, hung up, buffed my badge, and tucked in my shirt.

Clouds of blue-headed wrasse were feeding in my shadow: I paused for a long inspection, hoping to catch sight of one of the juvenile females, who mate in schools, in the phase of growing into a much larger, red-and-yellow, monogamous male.

Maori wrasses, which are extraordinary pale olive-green creatures about the size of a Samsonite suitcase.

All wrasses begin life as females and continue to pump out eggs as they age and grow larger.

Giant wrasses were being targeted as delicacies for the Hong Kong market.

When he worked on a shipwreck, goatfish dug in the sand beside him, rays skittered across the bottom, and there was always the tiny danger that some nearsighted wrasse would take a bite from his earlobe.