Cape"lin (?), n. [Cf. F. capelan, caplan.] Zool.
A small marine fish (Mallotus villosus) of the family Salmonidae, very abundant on the coasts of Greenland, Iceland, Newfoundland, and Alaska. It is used as a bait for the cod.
[Written also
capelan and
caplin.]
⇒ This fish, which is like a smelt, is called by the Spaniards anchova, and by the Portuguese capelina.
Fisheries of U. S. (1884).
© Webster 1913.