Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

POVERTY FISH, n.comb. The lumpsucker fish, Cylopterus lumpus (see quot.).Bnff. 1968 Press & Jnl. (9 Feb.):
To the driftermen of the Moray Firth the “lumpsuckers,” or “paddle cocks,” were no indication of wealth to come. Indeed, the Buckie men knew them as the “poverty fish,” and a straggle of them in the first few nets to be hauled was usually a sign of an absence of the Silver Darlings.