Psephurus gladis

9.9

A large extinct freshwater fish from China's rivers with a long flat nose similar to a paddlefish

noun

Specialized

: Psephurus gladis

The Psephurus gladis was once one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world.

Examples

Scientists mourned the extinction of Psephurus gladis due to habitat loss and overfishing.
The Psephurus gladis was once abundant in the Yangtze River.
Museum exhibits include a preserved specimen of Psephurus gladis to educate visitors about biodiversity.
Did you know that Psephurus gladis is now extinct?
Scientists mourned the extinction of Psephurus gladis due to habitat loss and overfishing.
The Psephurus gladis was once one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world.
Museum exhibits include a preserved specimen of Psephurus gladis to educate visitors about biodiversity.

Synonyms

Chinese paddlefish

vsPsephurus gladis

Specialized

1 8.4

A large freshwater fish from the Yangtze River with a long paddle-shaped snout

is the extinct large freshwater species closely related to other paddlefish

Surface Forms

Psephurus gladis singular

Psephurus gladis plural

Morphology

Psephurus + gladis

This is a Linnaean binomial combining the genus name Psephurus (a genus of large paddlefish, now extinct) with a species epithet. If a learner knows the genus meaning, they can transparently infer that Psephurus gladis denotes a species within that genus (i.e. a large freshwater paddlefish), while 'gladis' functions as a label rather than contributing an independent, unpredictable meaning. Scientific naming conventions are cross-linguistically regular, so the meaning is compositional for learners who know the constituent genus term.

Etymology

Psephurus gladis may come from words that make you picture its long nose: psephurus suggests a 'paddle' and gladis a 'sword'. That's why the name fits this very large freshwater fish with a long, paddle-like snout, which is now extinct.