Mustelus mustelus
- noun
- UK
:
Mustelus mustelus
- The Mustelus mustelus is commonly found in the shallow coastal waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Examples
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Marine biologists tagged several Mustelus mustelus to study their migration patterns.
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Did you know that the Mustelus mustelus can grow up to 1.5 meters long?
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Local fishermen sometimes catch Mustelus mustelus while trawling for other species.
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The Mustelus mustelus is commonly found in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Local fishermen sometimes catch Mustelus mustelus while trawling for other species.
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Marine biologists tagged several Mustelus mustelus to study their migration patterns.
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The Mustelus mustelus is commonly found in the shallow coastal waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Synonyms
A small thin shark near European coasts that eats crabs, also called smooth dogfish
A small shark with smooth skin and a long nose that lives near coasts
Surface Forms
Morphology
Knowing both constituents as 'Mustelus' (a group of smooth dogfish sharks) will allow a learner to infer that Mustelus mustelus refers to a kind of Mustelus shark, so part of the meaning (that it is a shark) is derivable from the parts. However, recognizing that the doubled form is a scientific binomial (a tautonym) naming a particular species requires knowledge of taxonomic conventions and Latin naming, so the full species-specific meaning is not predictable from the constituents alone.
Etymology
Mustelus mustelus comes from the old Latin word mustela, which means 'weasel', because this shark's long, thin body and smooth skin made people think of a weasel. So Mustelus mustelus today means 'a small, smooth-bodied dogfish shark' found in coastal waters.
