/trum"pit fish'/ , n. , pl. ( esp. collectively ) trumpetfish , ( esp. referring to two or more kinds or species ) trumpetfishes .
any of several fishes of the family Aulostomidae, having a long, tubular snout, as the slender, brown-flecked Aulostomus maculatus, inhabiting waters on both sides of the tropical Atlantic Ocean, having the habit of orienting vertically in the water and capturing its prey from that position.
[ 1660-70; TRUMPET + FISH ]