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Glite Dictionary
family Laricariidae

family Laricariidae

9.9
A group of catfish from fresh water in Central and South America with bony plates and a sucker mouth
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : familia Laricariidae
  • Members of the family Laricariidae have evolved distinctive sucker mouths for clinging to rocks in fast-flowing streams.

Examples

  • The family Laricariidae includes many popular aquarium species known for cleaning algae.

  • Scientists recently discovered a new member of the family Laricariidae in the Amazon Basin.

  • The family Laricariidae includes many species of armored catfish.

  • Do you know about the family Laricariidae?

  • Members of the family Laricariidae have evolved distinctive sucker mouths for clinging to rocks in fast-flowing streams.

  • Scientists recently discovered a new member of the family Laricariidae in the Amazon Basin.

  • The family Laricariidae includes many popular aquarium species known for cleaning algae.

Synonyms

Laricariidae
vsfamily Laricariidae
  • Specialized
9.9

A group of freshwater catfish with bony plates

is the same meaning but written as a descriptive group phrase

Surface Forms

family Laricariidae singular
families Laricariidae plural

Morphology

family + Laricariidae

This is fully compositional: 'family' (a taxonomic grouping) combined with the proper-name taxon 'Laricariidae' yields the expected meaning of the taxonomic family containing those catfish. Scientific name + rank constructions are cross-linguistically regular and therefore immediately interpretable by learners who know both constituents.

Etymology

Family Laricariidae comes from the fish group Loricaria, which comes from the Latin word 'lorica' meaning 'armor'. These catfish have bony plates like a coat of 'armor' and a sucker mouth to cling to rocks, so the name helps you remember they are armored, sucker-mouthed fish.