yellowtail

noun yel·low·tail \ ˈye-lō-ˌtāl , ˈye-lə- \

|Updated on: 2 Jul 2018

Definition of yellowtail

plural yellowtail or yellowtails

: any of various fishes having a yellow or yellowish tail: such as

a : any of several carangid fishes (genus Seriola); especially : a food and sport fish (S. lalandi) of the Pacific and Indian oceans having a yellow stripe along each side of the body

b : silver perch a

c : a snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus) that is a sport and food fish found from Massachusetts to Brazil and is olive to bluish above with yellow spots and a broad yellow stripe along each side of the body — called also yellowtail snapper

Recent Examples of yellowtail from the Web

Every Liholiho poke starts as a whole tuna loin, either from yellowtail or bigeye, depending on what’s running at the time.

— ali bouzari, SFChronicle.com, "Housemade: The magic of Liholiho Yacht Club," 22 June 2018
The classic cold dishes include yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno, tiradito, red snapper sashimi with dry miso and yuzu, bluefin toro tartare, lobster ceviche on butter lettuce, and lobster and shiitake salad with spicy lemon dressing.

— greg morago, Houston Chronicle, "First look: Nobu Houston," 30 May 2018
Well-seared, the king yellowtail is lush and succulent: Seafood, from $2 to $32 during restaurant hours, Sakanaya at Wokuni, 327 Lexington Avenue (39th Street), 212-447-1212, wokuninyc.com.

— florence fabricant, New York Times, "Sushi-Grade Fish Straight From Japan," 9 Apr. 2018
As depicted, the yellowtail sashimi glows a rosy pink thanks to a delicate film of ponzu.

— mike sula, Chicago Reader, "Radio Anago is Brendan Sodikoff’s sushi cave under the deep dark sea . . .," 3 May 2018
Not a bad inventory, mind you — reasonably fresh tuna, salmon, octopus, salmon roe, mackerel, crab stick, tamago, yellowtail, shrimp, cucumber — just no points for show.

— mike sutter, San Antonio Express-News, "Review: Yummi delivers with sushi, ramen and rockin’ rolls," 15 Mar. 2018
The yellowtail and tuna are raised in Japan at the aqua farms owned by Tokyo Ichiban Foods, a large restaurant company that has Wokuni in its lineup.

— florence fabricant, New York Times, "Sushi-Grade Fish Straight From Japan," 9 Apr. 2018
Much better was the Hamachi Zu sashimi ($9), consisting of a half-dozen pieces of yellowtail, thickly sliced into triangles, soaking in a citrusy ponzu sauce.

— malcolm mayhew, star-telegram, "Poke Stop sure-footed as it catches first wave of Hawaiian-dining trend in Fort Worth | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 4 Apr. 2018
The recipes lean Japanese, with flavors like ume-shiso, tangy and bright from salted plum, and a tumble of hamachi (yellowtail) stung by wasabi.

— author: ligaya mishan, Anchorage Daily News, "Heading home to Hawaii in search of poke," 10 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'yellowtail.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.