sunfish Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun the lean flesh of any of numerous American perch-like fishes of the family Centrarchidae
noun among the largest bony fish; pelagic fish having an oval compressed body with high dorsal and anal fins and caudal fin reduced to a rudder-like lobe; worldwide in warm waters
mola; headfish; ocean sunfish.
noun small carnivorous freshwater percoid fishes of North America usually having a laterally compressed body and metallic luster: crappies; black bass; bluegills; pumpkinseed
centrarchid.

(Zoöl.) (a) A very large oceanic plectognath fish (Mola mola, Mola rotunda, or Orthagoriscus mola) having a broad body and a truncated tail. (b) Any one of numerous species of perch-like North American fresh-water fishes of the family Centrachidæ. They have a broad, compressed body, and strong dorsal spines. Among the common species of the Eastern United States are Lepomis gibbosus (called also bream, pondfish, pumpkin seed, and sunny), the blue sunfish, or dollardee (L. pallidus), and the long-eared sunfish (L. auritus). Several of the species are called also pondfish. (c) The moonfish, or bluntnosed shiner. (d) The opah. (e) The basking, or liver, shark. (f) Any large jellyfish.