bamboo fish, noun phrase

Origin:
South African DutchShow more Probably translation of South African Dutch bamboesvis, bamboesvisch; see Pettman quotation 1913.
The strepie, Sarpa salpa.
[1887 S.W. Silver & Co.’s Handbk to S. Afr. 183Bamboes visch,..A rich and delicate fish, but scarce in Cape Town. Caught in Saldanha Bay, where it is dried and salted.]
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 43Bamboo fish, Box salpa. A fish which lives among the Sea bamboo..and large Sargassa. It feeds only upon algae.
1955 C. Horne Fisherman’s Eldorado 210False Bay anglers..would not link the names karanteen or sasa with the fish they know as bamboo fish, but Natal anglers, who know this fish as karanteen and bamboo fish, would probably not experience a similar difficulty, although the name sasa, which originated on the Wild Coast, would come less readily to them than to East London anglers.
1971 [see strepie].
The strepie, Sarpa salpa.
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18871955