conodont
a Paleozoic microfossil occurring in various jagged or toothlike shapes and constituting the hard remains of an extinct marine animal of the order Conodonta (or Conodontophorida), found abundantly worldwide in sedimentary rock.
Origin of conodont
1Words Nearby conodont
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use conodont in a sentence
Now in the younger embryo some of the teeth are furnished with more than one cusp; they are bi- or even tri-conodont.
The Cambridge Natural History, Vol X., Mammalia | Frank Evers Beddard
British Dictionary definitions for conodont
/ (ˈkəʊnədɒnt, ˈkɒn-) /
any of various small Palaeozoic toothlike fossils derived from an extinct eel-like marine animal
Origin of conodont
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for conodont
[ kō′nə-dŏnt′, kŏn′ə- ]
Any of various minute, toothlike or bladelike fossils made of the mineral apatite and dating from the Cambrian to the late Triassic Period. They are virtually the only preserved parts of extinct eellike animals that are now thought to have been primitive vertebrates similar to the modern hagfishes. Conodonts grew in paired assemblages in the head region of the animal and probably formed part of the feeding apparatus. They are the most widespread microfossils of the Paleozoic Era and are very important for determining the age of rock strata.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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