| 释义 |
cœlacanth, a. and n. Zool.|ˈsiːləkænθ|
[ad. mod.L. Cœlacanthus, name of the typical genus, f. Gr. κοῖλ-ος hollow + ἄκανθ-α spine.]
A. adj. Having a hollow spine; said of an extinct family of fishes.
B. n. A fish of the genus Cœlacanthus or the family Cœlacanthidæ. (Specimens of this fish found in modern times have been systematically named Latimeria chalumnæ.)
1857[see sauroid n. 1]. 1864in Webster, Cœlacanth (adj.). 1931J. R. Norman Hist. Fishes xvii. 357 The scales of the Coelacanths are cycloid. 1940Nature 13 July 53/1 The Cœlacanths have changed very little since their first known appearance in Upper Devonian formations. 1957Encycl. Brit. V. 934/1 The first living coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) was trawled in 40 fathoms near East London, U. of S. Af., in 1938. The second was caught..near the Comoro Islands in Dec. 1952. 1966Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. CLXXVII. 2 The almost static coelacanths with their notorious single living representative Latimeria.
Hence cœlaˈcanthid a. and n., (a member of) the above family. cœlaˈcanthine a. [cf. Cœlacanthini, Huxley's name for the family], pertaining to the Cœlacanths. cœlaˈcanthoid, cœlaˈcanthous a., like, or of the nature of, the Cœlacanths.
1939Nature 18 Mar. 455 (caption) Coelacanthid fish from East London, South Africa. Ibid. 456/2 Certain cœlacanthid fishes underwent little apparent change from the Devonian to the Cretaceous. |