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Sciaena aquila

Sciaena aquila

9.9
A large sea fish found near Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts eaten as food
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : Sciaena aquila
  • The chef prepared a dish using freshly caught Sciaena aquila for the restaurant's special menu.

Examples

  • Researchers studied the migration patterns of Sciaena aquila in the Mediterranean Sea.

  • Commercial fishing of Sciaena aquila has increased along the Atlantic coasts in recent years.

  • The chef prepared a delicious dish with Sciaena aquila.

  • Have you ever tried Sciaena aquila at a seafood restaurant?

  • The chef prepared a dish using freshly caught Sciaena aquila for the restaurant's special menu.

  • Commercial fishing of Sciaena aquila has increased along the Atlantic coasts in recent years.

  • Have you ever tried Sciaena aquila at a seafood restaurant?

Surface Forms

Morphology

Sciaena + aquila

The name is a Latin binomial: the genus 'Sciaena' clearly signals a fish, so a learner who knows both constituents would infer it names a species of Sciaena (i.e. a fish). However, the specific sense 'a large European marine food fish' and the species nuance cannot be fully derived from the epithet 'aquila' (which is missing here and not transparently related), so the overall meaning is only partly predictable.

Etymology

Sciaena aquila may come from two old words: Sciaena, a name for fish called 'drums' because they can make a low sound, and aquila, the Latin word for 'eagle', maybe because the fish's head or a dark mark looked like an eagle. So the name gives a clear picture of a large sea 'drum' with an 'eagle' look, helping you remember it is a big marine fish.