American smooth dogfish
- noun
- /əˈmɛrɪkən smuːð ˈdɔɡfɪʃ/
- Specialized
:
tiburón liso americano
- The American smooth dogfish is recognized by its smooth skin and lack of prominent dorsal spines.
Examples
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The American smooth dogfish is often found in shallow waters.
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Fishermen occasionally catch the American smooth dogfish off the coast of New Jersey.
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Conservationists are studying population changes in the American smooth dogfish along the eastern United States.
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Have you ever seen an American smooth dogfish?
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Fishermen occasionally catch the American smooth dogfish off the coast of New Jersey.
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Conservationists are studying population changes in the American smooth dogfish along the eastern United States.
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The American smooth dogfish is recognized by its smooth skin and lack of prominent dorsal spines.
Synonyms
A small shark with smooth skin that lives along the Atlantic coast of the Americas
A small shark that lives on the sea bottom along the Atlantic coasts of North and South America
A small shark that lives in shallow coastal waters from the northern Gulf of Mexico to Brazil
A shark with smooth skin that lives from the northern Gulf of Mexico to Brazil
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is fully compositional: 'American' specifies geographic origin, 'smooth' describes a surface quality, and 'dogfish' denotes a small shark species. This follows ordinary noun-modifier composition, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would infer it refers to a smooth-skinned dogfish from the Americas.
Etymology
The name American smooth dogfish comes from its parts: American shows 'where it lives', smooth describes 'soft skin', and dogfish is an old name for a 'small shark'. One popular idea says fishermen called these sharks 'dogfish' because they sometimes hunt in groups like dogs, so the full name now points to a small, smooth-skinned shark found in American waters.
