diphycercal

[dif-uh-sur-kuh l]

adjective Ichthyology.

having a tail or caudal fin with the spinal column extending horizontally to the end of the tail, characteristic of lungfish, several other primitive fishes, and the juvenile stage of modern bony fishes.

Compare homocercal, heterocercal.

Origin of diphycercal

diphy- double (see diphyodont) + Greek kérk(os) a tail + -al¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for diphycercal

Historical Examples of diphycercal

The tail may be heterocercal, as in Acipenser, or diphycercal as in Polypterus.
The Vertebrate Skeleton
Sidney H. Reynolds
The tail is diphycercal, and the pectoral fins are typical archipterygia.
The Vertebrate Skeleton
Sidney H. Reynolds
Diphycercal, dif-i-ser′kal, adj. having the tail symmetrical (of fishes).
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D)
Various
In most primitive types, as in most embryonic fishes, the vertebræ grow smaller to the last (diphycercal).
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)
David Starr Jordan
The tail is diphycercal, heterocercal, or else it degenerates into a whip-like organ, a form which has been called leptocercal.
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)
David Starr Jordan

British Dictionary definitions for diphycercal

diphycercal

adjective

ichthyol of or possessing a symmetrical or pointed tail with the vertebral column extending to the tip, as in primitive fishes

Word Origin for diphycercal

C19: from Greek diphuēs twofold (from di 1 + phuē growth) + kerkos tail

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