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Glite Dictionary
precaudal

precaudal

9.9
The part of an animal's body in front of the tail
  • adjective
  • /priˈkɔːdəl/
  • Specialized
: precaudal
  • Total length (TL), fork length (FL), and precaudal length (PCL) of each specimen were recorded according to Compagno (1984).

Examples

  • Researchers often record the precaudal measurements to assess the health of marine animals.

  • In her research, she focused on the precaudal characteristics of various shark species.

  • The biologist measured the precaudal length of the fish to better understand its growth patterns.

Surface Forms

precaudal positive

Morphology

precaudal = caudal (semi-transparent) = pre + caudal

Formally analyzable as 'pre-' + 'caudal', but 'caudal' is a technical anatomical term so the meaning may not be immediately obvious to general learners.

Etymology

Precaudal breaks into pre- meaning 'before' and caudal, from Latin cauda meaning 'tail'. So precaudal means 'in front of the tail', which is why scientists use it for the body area before an animal's tail.