What does "doctorfish" mean?

Either of the fish Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomus, which feed on dead skin while leaving the healthy skin intact.

What is a synonym for "doctorfish"?

Common synonyms include: acanthurus chirurgus, doctor fish, doctor-fish, red garra.

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Either of the fish Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomus, which feed on dead skin while leaving the healthy skin intact.
"Walking at the Brixton market among the parrotfish, doctorfish and butterfish, Effa Edusie is surrounded by pieces of her childhood in Ghana."
2
surgeon fish of the West Indies wordnet

"Walking at the Brixton market among the parrotfish, doctorfish and butterfish, Effa Edusie is surrounded by pieces of her childhood in Ghana."

From doctor + fish.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.