shrimpfish

/shrimp"fish'/, n., pl. (esp. collectively) shrimpfish, (esp. referring to two or more kinds or species) shrimpfishes.

any of several fishes of the family Centriscidae, inhabiting shallow waters from eastern Africa to Hawaii, having a compressed body covered with transparent plates.

[SHRIMP + FISH]

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▪ fish

also called  Razor Fish,  

      any of four species of small, tropical marine fishes of the family Centriscidae (order Gasterosteiformes), found in the Indo-Pacific. The name razor fish derives from the shrimpfishes' characteristic sharp-edged belly. Shrimpfishes are nearly transparent, long-snouted, shrimplike fishes, flattened from side to side and covered with a cuirass of fused, transparent armour plates. The armour ends in a long spine (one of the dorsal fin spines), beneath which are the tail and the rest of the dorsal fins.

      Shrimpfishes characteristically swim in a vertical position, with their head down, but in a cave or similar enclosure, they swim head-up, oriented toward the roof. The species vary in length from about 14 centimetres (5 ¹/₂ inches) to about 30 centimetres.

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