cœlacanthadj.n.
/ˈsiːləkanθ/ Zoology.
A. adj.
Having a hollow spine; said of an extinct family of fishes.
ΚΠ
1864 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Cœlacanth (adj.).
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.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > [noun] > subclass Crossopterygii or order Coelacanthiformes > member of
cœlacanth1857
crossopterygian1861
latimeria1940
lobe-fin1941
Old Fourlegs1956
1857 L. J. R. Agassiz Contrib. Nat. Hist. U.S.A. I. 187 Ganoids; with three orders, Cœlacanths, Acipenseroids, and Sauroids.
1931 J. R. Norman Hist. Fishes xvii. 357 The scales of the Coelacanths are cycloid.
1940 Nature 13 July 53/1 The Cœlacanths have changed very little since their first known appearance in Upper Devonian formations.
1957 Encycl. 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.
1966 Proc. Linn. Soc. CLXXVII. 2 The almost static coelacanths with their notorious single living representative Latimeria.
Derivatives
cœlaˈcanthid adj. and n. (a member of) the above family.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > [adjective] > belonging to Crossopterygii > of or relating to member of
lobe-finned1933
cœlacanthid1939
1939 Nature 18 Mar. 455 (caption) Coelacanthid fish from East London, South Africa.
1939 Nature 18 Mar. 456/2 Certain cœlacanthid fishes underwent little apparent change from the Devonian to the Cretaceous.
Categories »
cœlaˈcanthine adj. [compare Cœlacanthini, Huxley's name for the family] pertaining to the Cœlacanths.
Categories »
cœlaˈcanthoid adj. like, or of the nature of, the Cœlacanths.
Categories »
cœlaˈcanthous adj. = cœlacanthoid adj.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1857