catfishes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of catfish, used mainly for different species. Catfish is the usual plural for individual fish.

   Armored catfishes are popular with aquarium keepers because they clean the tank floor.

   The study compared the diets of three North American catfishes.

   Note

   The regular plural, standing beside the unchanged plural catfish, which English also allows. The -es form is usually preferred in ichthyology when several distinct species are meant rather than several individual fish: the river holds a dozen catfishes, but we caught six catfish. The same spelling also serves the present-tense verb, so the grammar of the sentence shows which word is meant.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of catfish.

   He catfishes unsuspecting users on dating apps using a fabricated persona.

   Whenever she catfishes someone, she invents an elaborate backstory to match the fake profile.

   Note

   Two quite different verbs share this form, and an object tells them apart. Without one, it means fishing for catfish: he catfishes off the dock every Saturday. With one, it is Internet slang for deceiving someone through a fake online profile: she catfishes lonely strangers. The slang sense suits casual talk about online life. In formal prose, it is safer to describe the deception plainly.

   Every Saturday morning he catfishes off the old wooden dock.

   My uncle still catfishes in the river where he grew up.

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