Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having or designating a tail fin in which the vertebral column extends to the tip, with symmetrical upper and lower parts, as in the lungfishes.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In ichthyology, having the tail symmetrical, or consisting of equal upper and lower halves, with respect to the bones which support it, the end of the spinal column or the notochord not being bent upward as is usually the case in fishes. See homocercal, hypural, heterocercal.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Anat.) Having the tail fin divided into two equal parts by the notochord, or end of the vertebral column; protocercal. See
protocercal .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective zoology Describing a symmetric
tail fin in which the vertebral column extends to the tip
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Greek diphuēs, double; see diphyodont + kerkos, tail + –al.]
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Examples
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Vertebrated but symmetrical fin (diphycercal) 170 71.
Darwin, and After Darwin (Vol. 1 and 3, of 3) An Exposition of the Darwinian Theory and a Discussion of Post-Darwinian Questions George John Romanes 1871
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