acanthopterygian

ac·an·thop·ter·yg·i·an  (kn-thpt-rj-n)

n.

Any of a large group of fishes of the superorder Acanthopterygii, having bony skeletons and spiny rays in the dorsal and anal fins and including the bass, perch, mackerel, and swordfish.

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[From New Latin Acanthopterygi, superorder name : acantho- + Greek pterux, pterug-, wing, fin; see pet- in Indo-European roots.]

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acan·thopter·ygi·an adj.

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acanthopterygian  (kn-thpt-rj-n)

Any of a large group of teleost fishes of the superorder Acanthopterygii, having spiny rays in the dorsal and anal fins and including the bass, perch, mackerel, and swordfish.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

acanthopterygian - a teleost fish with fins that are supported by sharp inflexible rays spiny-finned fish squirrelfish - very small, brightly colored (especially red) nocturnal fishes of shallow waters or tropical reefs; they make sounds like a squirrel's bark anomalops, flashlight fish - fish having a luminous organ beneath eye; of warm waters of the western Pacific and Puerto Rico flashlight fish, Photoblepharon palpebratus - fish of deep dark waters having a light organ below each eye dory - marine fishes widely distributed in mid-waters and deep slope waters Capros aper, boarfish - fish with a projecting snout boarfish - fish with large eyes and long snouts stickleback, prickleback - small (2-4 inches) pugnacious mostly scaleless spiny-backed fishes of northern fresh and littoral waters having elaborate courtship; subjects of much research teleost, teleost fish, teleostan - a bony fish of the subclass Teleostei batfish - bottom-dweller of warm western Atlantic coastal waters having a flattened scaleless body that crawls about on fleshy pectoral and pelvic fins angler fish, anglerfish, goosefish, Lophius Americanus, lotte, allmouth, monkfish, angler - fishes having large mouths with a wormlike filament attached for luring prey Opsanus tau, toadfish - bottom-dwelling fish having scaleless slimy skin and a broad thick head with a wide mouth frogfish - fish having a frog-like mouth with a lure on the snout sargassum fish - small fantastically formed and colored fishes found among masses of sargassum Acanthopterygii, superorder Acanthopterygii - teleost fishes having fins with sharp bony rays percoid, percoid fish, percoidean - any of numerous spiny-finned fishes of the order Perciformes remora, suckerfish, sucking fish - marine fishes with a flattened elongated body and a sucking disk on the head for attaching to large fish or moving objects silverside, silversides - small fishes having a silver stripe along each side; abundant along the Atlantic coast of the United States barracuda - any voracious marine fish of the genus Sphyraena having an elongated cylindrical body and large mouth with projecting lower jaw and long strong teeth launce, sand eel, sand lance, sand launce - very small silvery eellike schooling fishes that burrow into sandy beaches dragonet - small often brightly colored scaleless marine bottom-dwellers; found in tropical and warm temperate waters of Europe and America scorpaenoid, scorpaenoid fish - fishes having the head armored with bony plates plectognath, plectognath fish - tropical marine fishes having the teeth fused into a beak and thick skin covered with bony plates or spines flatfish - any of several families of fishes having flattened bodies that swim along the sea floor on one side of the body with both eyes on the upper side