Copycat vs. Catfish

One who imitates or plagiarizes others' work.

A criminal who imitates the crimes of another; specifically, a criminal who commits the same crime, especially a highly-publicized one, that has just been or recently committed by someone else.

Example: ‘a copycat strangler’;

Imitative; unoriginal.

To act as a copycat; to copy in a shameless or derivative way

someone who copies the words or behavior of another.

someone who copies the words or behavior of another

Any fish of the order Siluriformes, mainly found in fresh water, lacking scales, and having barbels like whiskers around the mouth.

(internet) Someone who creates a fake profile on a social media platform in order to deceive people.

(internet) Such a fake profile.

To fish for catfish

Example: ‘I only use this rod for catfishing.’;

To create a fake online profile to deceive (someone).

A name given in the United States to various species of siluroid fishes; as, the yellow cat (Amiurus natalis); the bind cat (Gronias nigrilabrus); the mud cat (Pilodictic oilwaris), the stone cat (Noturus flavus); the sea cat (Arius felis), etc. This name is also sometimes applied to the wolf fish. See Bullhrad.

flesh of scaleless food fish of the southern United States; often farmed

large ferocious northern deep-sea food fishes with strong teeth and no pelvic fins

any of numerous mostly freshwater bottom-living fishes of Eurasia and North America with barbels like whiskers around the mouth

a freshwater or marine fish with barbels resembling whiskers round the mouth, typically bottom-dwelling.

another term for wolf fish

fish for catfish

Example: ‘with the Mississippi River far below its normal level, the catfishing kept getting better and better’;

lure (someone) into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona

Example: ‘a victim of catfishing’; ‘he was being catfished by a cruel prankster’;

Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia, the wels catfish of Eurasia, and the piraíba of South America, to detritivores (species that eat dead material on the bottom), and even to a tiny parasitic species commonly called the Candiru, Vandellia cirrhosa.