A name given to several fishes remarkable for their size, appearance, or value as food; esp. (a) the opah (Lampris guttatus or luna), a brilliantly colored fish of the mackerel family, occasionally found in British waters; (b) a carangoid fish (Seriola Lalandii) of New Zealand and New South Wales, also called ‘yellow-tail’; (c) a scombroid fish of Florida (Scomberomerus regalis or Cybium regale); (d) an American sciænoid fish (Menticirrus nebulosus or related species); (e) a sciænoid fish of S. Australia (Sciæna antarctica).
1750. Phil. Trans., Abridg. (1756), X. 879. Plate v. The Opah, or King Fish.
1775. Romans, Florida, App. 7. Groopers are in great plenty, king-fish, Spanish mackrel and Barrows are also often caught towing.
1798. T. Hinderwell, Hist. Scarborough, II. ii. 229. The Opah or king-fish (very rare) was seen here a few years ago.
1827. P. Cunningham, N. S. Wales, I. 68 (Morris). King-fish, mullet, mackarel … are all too found plentifully about.
1859. All Year Round, No. 4. 82. The deep sea fish—the ‘schnapper,’ the ‘king fish,’ the ‘grounder,’ and the rock cod—were beyond their reach.
1880. Rep. R. Comm. Fisheries N. S. Wales, 22. The ‘King-fish’ [Elacata nigra] is about the most voracious and destructive of all the predacious fishes of these seas.
1897. Outing (U.S.), XXIX. 330/2. Second in importance is the kingfish, whom the Fish Commissioners call a Scomberomorus regalis.… He is wholly unrelated to the kingfish of the North, but is a variety of mackerel. He abounds off the coast of Florida.
