[ noun ] fish that live on the sea bottom (particularly the commercially important gadoid fish like cod and haddock, or flatfish like flounder) <noun.animal>
groundfish \ground"fish\ (ground"f[i^]sh), n. sing. & pl. Fish that live on the sea bottom, especially commercially important gadoid fishes like cod and haddock or flatfish like flounder.
Syn: bottom fish. [WordNet 1.5]
American fishermen say the annual catch of groundfish in the "doughnut hole" has grown from about 200,000 metric tons to more than 1 million metric tons over the past four years.
With the groundfish haul valued at about $1 billion a year, the dispute has kicked up a fierce political squall, with the two sides trading accusations of Japan-bashing, promoting protectionism and plundering the sea.