butterfishes See {butterfish} butterfish n 1: any of numerous small flat Atlantic food fish having smooth skin 2: small marine fish with a short smooth-scaled compressed body and feeble spines [syn: {stromateid fish}, {stromateid}] 3: slippery scaleless food fish of the northern Atlantic coastal waters [syn: {rock gunnel}, {Pholis gunnellus}] [also: {butterfishes} (pl)]