Mudsuckers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Small fish that burrow into mudflats and tidal sand, breathing through their gills while buried in the muck
2. Coastal fish that live in muddy estuaries and shallow bays, often hiding in burrows dug into the soft sediment
3. Bottom-dwelling fishes of muddy shores that lie partly buried in the silt and feed on small organisms

Etymology: Mudsuckers is the plural of mudsucker, a noun formed from "mud" and "sucker." The base word is the more interesting half. "Sucker" comes from the verb "suck," and in English it has long been applied to things, and creatures, that draw something in or live off what they take from elsewhere. Combined with "mud," the result describes an animal that lives in or feeds on the mire, and the term has been used for fish and other creatures that take in food from muddy bottoms or wet ground.