DCHP-3

fathom-fish

Pacific Coast, Obs.
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

n.

a small fish, Thaleicthys pacificus, of the smelt family, native to the Pacific coast.

Quotations

1849
To prepare them [oolichan] for a distant market, they are laid side by side, head and tail alternately, and then a thread run through both extremities links them together, in which state they are dried, smoked, and sold by the fathom, hence they have obtained the name of fathom-fish.
1897
Another name of these "smelts" was fathom-fish, given because they were strung on strings and sold by the fathom.