mormyridn.adj.
/ˈmɔːmᵻrɪd/, U.S. /ˈmɔrməˌrɪd/ Zoology.
A. n.
Any of various thick-bodied freshwater fishes of the African family Mormyridae, many of which possess electric organs and some of which have an elongated snout resembling an elephant's trunk.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > subclass Actinopterygii > superorder Osteoglossomorpha (bonytongues) > [noun] > order Mormyriformes > member of family Mormyridae
oxyrhynchus1603
spit-nose1668
mormyrus1706
mormyr1890
oxyrhynch1890
mormyrid1896
1896 Science 26 June 914/2 Of the Mormyrids,..species occur in all the rivers of tropical Africa.
1911 Science 26 May 831/2 This exceedingly characteristic feature is now known..in the Dipnoans, the Osteoglossids and the Mormyrids.
1936 Sci. Monthly May 419/2 What a treat to find among the fresh fishes..an elephant-headed mormyrid.
1975 G. Vevers tr. K. Paysan Aquarium Fishes 108 A very active, nocturnal and territorial fish... Like all the mormyrids it is aggressive towards members of its own species.
1986 A. S. Romer & T. S. Parsons Vertebr. Body (ed. 6) xv. 523 A variety of relatively primitive freshwater teleosts, such as the African mormyrids, which produce electric impulses as a type of ‘radar’ for use in muddy water, in which vision is of limited use.
B. adj.
Of or relating to the family Mormyridae; characteristic of a mormyrid.
ΚΠ
1910 T. D. Cockerell in Smithsonian Misc. Coll. 56 No. 3 (title) The scales of the mormyrid fishes, with remarks on Albula and Elops.
1961 E. S. Herald Living Fishes of World 101/2 Having once carefully examined a mormyrid..it is usually possible to identify other members of the family by recognition of the typical ‘mormyrid look’.
1978 Sci. Amer. May 147/1 He was studying the nervous control of the electric organ of the South American mormyrid fish, which stuns its prey with an electric shock.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1896