heterocercal

American  

[het-er-uh-sur-kuhl] / ˌhɛt ər əˈsɜr kəl /

adjective

Ichthyology.

1. having an unequally divided tail, characteristic of sharks, rays, and skates.

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heterocercal British  

/ ˌhɛtərəʊˈsɜːkəl /

adjective

1. ichthyol of or possessing a tail in which the vertebral column turns upwards and extends into the upper, usually larger, lobe, as in sharks Compare homocercal

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Other Word Forms

• heterocercality noun

Etymology

Origin of heterocercal

1830–40; hetero- + Greek kérk ( os ) a tail + -al ¹

Example Sentences

They have small scales, a heterocercal tail, and two dorsal fins with a strong spine in front.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia Volume 4, Part 1: Deposition to Eberswalde by Various

Their tails, too, though both heterocercal, were diverse in their type.

From The Cruise of the Betsey or, A Summer Ramble Among the Fossiliferous Deposits of the Hebrides. With Rambles of a Geologist or, Ten Thousand Miles Over the Fossiliferous Deposits of Scotland by Symonds, W. S. (William Samuel)

This so called heterocercal tail is only known to exist, as a permanent adult feature, in the sturgeons of to-day.

From Louis Agassiz: His Life and Correspondence by Agassiz, Louis