sea raven
sea raven Lexical Profile
• noun
North American A large-headed, heavily built scorpaeniform marine fish (family Hemitripteridae, particularly Hemitripterus americanus) native to the coastal waters of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, distinguished by fleshy tabs on its head, prominent dorsal spines, and a highly variable coloration.
"The marine biologist carefully examined the brightly colored sea raven pulled from the rocky coastal waters of Maine."
A large, dark-plumaged diving bird found along coastal regions; a cormorant.
"In the old maritime poem, a solitary sea raven was seen diving into the churning, gray waves."
Word Nuance & Usage
While modern biological texts use 'sea raven' almost exclusively to identify a spiny Atlantic fish (Hemitripterus americanus), historical and literary texts frequently use it to denote a cormorant.
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
A compound of 'sea' and 'raven'. Historically applied to cormorants due to their dark, raven-like plumage, the name was later transferred to the voracious, large-headed marine fish of the northern Atlantic coast.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.