claspers
Britishplural noun
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a paired organ of male insects, used to clasp the female during copulation
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a paired organ of male sharks and related fish, used to assist the transfer of spermatozoa into the body of the female during copulation
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But apart from the denticles on their pelvic claspers, spotted ratfish are largely smooth-skinned.
From Science Daily • Oct. 16, 2025
Dermal denticles, including the ones on the spotted ratfish's pelvic claspers, do not have a dental lamina.
From Science Daily • Oct. 16, 2025
They use gripping appendages, called claspers, to hook themselves onto a female’s spines, giving males an inside track to fertilize the female’s eggs as soon as she releases them from a compartment in her head.
From New York Times • May 6, 2022
From those they gathered more evidence of male antiarchs with their claspers still attached.
From The Guardian • Oct. 19, 2014
Besides the claspers, the males of many rays have clusters of strong sharp spines on their heads, and several rows along “the upper outer surface of their pectoral fins.”
From The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex Volume II (1st Edition) by Darwin, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
