pecten

American  

[pek-tuhn] / ˈpɛk tən /

noun

plural

pectens, pectines

1. Zoology, Anatomy.

   1. a comblike part or process.

   2. a pigmented vascular membrane with parallel folds suggesting the teeth of a comb, projecting into the vitreous humor of the eye in birds and reptiles.

2. any bivalve mollusk of the genus Pecten; scallop.

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pecten British  

/ ˈpɛktɪn /

noun

1. a comblike structure in the eye of birds and reptiles, consisting of a network of blood vessels projecting inwards from the retina, which it is thought to supply with oxygen

2. any other comblike part or organ

3. any scallop of the genus Pecten, which swim by expelling water from their shell valves in a series of snapping motions

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Etymology

Origin of pecten

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin pecten comb, rake, scallop, pubes, akin to pectere, Greek pékein to comb, card

Example Sentences

In Pecten the animal at rest lies on the right valve, and swims or flies with the right valve lowermost.

From Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution His Life and Work by Packard, A. S. (Alpheus Spring)

Among the marine are found Pecten jacobæus, Mytilus edulis, and Natica mille-punctata, all of them eatable kinds, and which may have been brought there for food.

From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir

In the South Australian province species of Mactra, Psammobia, Venus, Tapes and Pecten, all peculiar, were taken.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 2 by MacGillivray, John

The shells are chiefly several species of Pleurotoma, Rostellaria, Fusus, Voluta, Turritella, Natica, a small bivalve Corbula pisum, a tubular shell of a sand-boring mollusc Dentalium, Ostrœa, Pecten, Cardium, Crassatella.

From The Geological Story of the Isle of Wight by Hughes, J. Cecil

Let us place side by side the eye of a vertebrate and that of a mollusc such as the common Pecten.

From Creative Evolution by Mitchell, Arthur