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branchiostegal

[brang-kee-os-ti-guh l]Ichthyology
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noun
  1. Also called branchiostegal ray. one of the long, curved bones just below the operculum, supporting the gill membranes.
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adjective
  1. of or relating to the branchiostegals.
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Origin of branchiostegal

First recorded in 1740–50; branchio- + steg(o)- + -al1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for branchiostegal

Historical Examples

  • These are the bones connected with respiration—the operculum, the branchiostegal rays, the branchial arches, and others.

    Form and Function

    E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell

  • The mouth and branchial cavity were very much distended, rounding out and distorting the whole hyoid and branchiostegal region.

  • The branchiostegal rays of the two sides are united in front by an unpaired membrane bone, the basi-branchiostegal (fig. 11, 36).

    The Vertebrate Skeleton

    Sidney H. Reynolds

  • To the cerato-hyal are attached a series of seven strong curved cylindrical rods, the branchiostegal rays.

    The Vertebrate Skeleton

    Sidney H. Reynolds

British Dictionary definitions for branchiostegal

branchiostegal

adjective
  1. zoology of or relating to the operculum covering the gill slits of fishbranchiostegal membrane; branchiostegal rays
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Word Origin

from branchia + Greek stegos roof
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012