1. A name given to several varieties of English and American fishes; e.g., the Black Ruff (a kind of perch), Centrolophus pompilus (a kind of mackerel), Tautoga Americana (a species of wrasse).
1754. Borlase, Cornwall, 271. Black ruffe, synonym Blackfish.
1861. J. Blight, Week Land’s End, 142. During the mackerel-season the blackfish of Gesner, Coryphæna Pompilus, is not of rare occurrence.
2. A small species of whale.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 398. Black fish, a sort of whale ‘of about five tons weight.’
1879. A. R. Wallace, Australasia, 428. The people of Solor are excellent fishermen, and frequently capture the small whales called black-fish.
3. A name given to salmon just after spawning. Hence Black-fisher, one who catches salmon when in this condition. Black-fishing, the taking of such salmon; especially applied in Scotland to their capture at night by torchlight, whence the term is sometimes explained.
1808. Walker, Prize Essays, II. 364 (Jam.). The salmon in these states are termed in our acts of Parliament, Red and Black Fish.
1841. Penny Cycl., XX. 363/1. The females are dark in colour and are as commonly called black-fish.
1809. St. Patrick, III. 42 (Jam.). Ye took me aiblins for a black-fisher.
1848. Life Normandy (1863), II. 55. Black-fisher … is the name given to the poachers who kill salmon when they are out of season.
1794. Forfar Statist. Acc., XII. 294 (Jam.). Black-fishing is so called because it is performed in the night-time, or perhaps because the fish are then black or foul.
1815. Scott, Guy M., ii. The holding of a black-fishing, or poaching court.
