anableps

[an-uh-bleps]

noun

1. four-eyed fish.

anableps

/ ˈænəˌblɛps /

noun

1. any of various cyprinodont fishes constituting the genus Anableps, which includes the four-eyed fishes

Word History and Origins

Origin of anableps¹

1777; < New Latin, the genus name, coinage based on Greek anablépein to look up, equivalent to ana- ana- + blépein to see

Word History and Origins

Origin of anableps¹

New Latin, literally: one who looks up, from Greek, from anablepein to look up

Example Sentences

In the remarkable genus Anableps, from Central and South America, the strongly projecting eyes are divided by a horizontal band of the conjunctiva into an upper part adapted for vision in the air, and a lower for vision in the water, and the pupil is also divided into two parts by a constriction.

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Anableps, an′a-bleps, n. a genus of bony fishes with open air-bladders, and projecting eyes divided into an upper and lower portion, so that each eye has two pupils.

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That playground taunt is more accurate when applied to Anableps anableps—a fish related to the guppy.

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Anableps doesn't actually have four eyes—just the usual two.

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We see the barreleye fish, whose eyes extend from its head on tubes, Anableps anableps, a fish with four eyes, and the mantis fish whose color vision is so acute, Dr. Knowlton writes, that it makes what we see look like it is “practically in black and white.”

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