ichthyolite

American  

[ik-thee-uh-lahyt] / ˈɪk θi əˌlaɪt /

noun

1. a fossil fish.

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ichthyolite British  

/ ˌɪkθɪəˈlɪtɪk, ˈɪkθɪəˌlaɪt /

noun

1. rare any fossil fish

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Other Word Forms

• ichthyolitic adjective

Etymology

Origin of ichthyolite

First recorded in 1820–30; ichthyo- + -lite

Example Sentences

Ichthyolite, ik′thi-ō-līt, n. a fossil fish.

From Project Gutenberg

He had evidently seen, long ere it had been detected by the scientific eye, that strange ichthyolite of the Old Red system, the Cephalaspis.

From Project Gutenberg

One of the number,—a minute ichthyolite, about three inches in length,—I was at first disposed to set down as new, but I have since come to regard it as simply an imperfectly-preserved specimen of a Cromarty and Morayshire species,—the Glyptolepis microlepidotus; though its state of keeping is such as to render either conclusion an uncertainty.

From Project Gutenberg

We returned to Stromness along the edge of the cliffs gradually descending from higher to lower ranges of prepices, and ever and anon detecting ichthyolite beds in the weathered and partially decomposed strata.

From Project Gutenberg

The numerous Coccostei of this quarry exhibit, attached to their upper plates, their long vertebral columns, of many joints, that, depending from the broad dorsal shields of the ichthyolite, remind one of those skeleton fishes one sometimes sees on the shores of a fishing village, in which the bared backbone joints on, cord-like, to the broad plates of the skull.

From Project Gutenberg