trash fish

noun

1

: rough fish

2

: a usually marine fish having little or no market value as human food but used sometimes in the production of fish meal

Examples of trash fish in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Until fairly recently, these toothy critters were vilified by anglers as a trash fish that ate more desirable game fish like bass and crappie. —Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 20 Feb. 2025

Once extremely common but rejected by most for its slimy ugliness, it was thought of as a trash fish, judged suitable only for dog food. —T.w. Pietsch, The New York Review of Books, 22 Dec. 2022

Numerous campaigns by environmental groups are looking to rebrand trash fish. —Ret Talbot, Discover Magazine, 25 June 2014

As a brand, Asian carp have two big problems: The name strikes many as both racially insensitive and decidedly unpalatable — a trash fish. —Peter Kendall, Washington Post, 22 June 2022

And his plan to beat the coronavirus relies on history’s trash fish. —Tim Prudente, baltimoresun.com, 31 Dec. 2020

Truth is, trash fish, or rough fish, often save the day when more civilized species like bass and trout won’t co-oper-ate. —Will Brantley, Field & Stream, 2 Aug. 2019

Hell, even when those species are biting, trash fish make for a nice heretical change of pace and some good lowbrow fun. —Will Brantley, Field & Stream, 2 Aug. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1944, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for trash fish

• bluefish
• catfish
• codfish
• crawfish
• dogfish
• finfish
• flatfish
• goldfish
• groundfish
• kingfish
• offish
• redfish