sand eel

American  

noun

1. sand lance.

2. New Zealand. sandfish.

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sand eel British  

noun

1. Popular name: launce. any silvery eel-like marine spiny-finned fish of the family Ammodytidae found burrowing in sand or shingle

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Etymology

Origin of sand eel

1275–1325; Middle English sandel; see sand, eel

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sand eel

The sand eel, a small eel-like fish that spends most of the year buried in shallow sediments, plays a key role in this process.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2023

British seas have warmed and that has reduced the sand eel population, a particularly bad development for surface-feeders like the kittiwake.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 7, 2018

While most concern focuses on birds and mammals, the oil may have harmed less visible -- and less photogenic -- creatures such as the sand eel, which has already suffered in recent years from overharvesting.

From Time Magazine Archive

"If the sand eel does not reproduce well this year because of the oil, the birds could be devastated."

From Time Magazine Archive

The fish was evidently not enamoured of that delicate sand eel, for there was a good deal of head shaking for a few minutes.

From Lines in Pleasant Places Being the Aftermath of an Old Angler by William Senior

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