Crossword Genius

Object after internet article about battered fish (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

whitebait

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'fish' is the definition.
(I know that whitebait is a type of fish)

'object after internet article about battered' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'object' could be 'te' (Te is an example) and 'te' is located in the answer.
'article' could be 'a' (the indefinite article in English) and 'a' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for whitebait that I've seen before include "Young of herrings" , "Small fry as food" , "Small silvery fish, the fry of herring" , "Fish eaten in quantity" , "Small edible fish" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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