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Glite Dictionary
family Muraenidae

family Muraenidae

9.2
A group of long sea fish like moray eels that eat other animals in warm waters
  • noun
  • /ˈfæmɪli mʊˈreɪnɪdi/
  • Specialized
: familia Muraenidae
  • The distinctive jaws and teeth of the family Muraenidae help them capture slippery prey.

Examples

  • The family Muraenidae includes more than 200 species of moray eels distributed around the world.

  • Marine biologists study the family Muraenidae to understand the diversity of reef-dwelling predators.

  • The family Muraenidae includes many fascinating species.

  • Did you know that the family Muraenidae consists of moray eels?

  • Marine biologists study the family Muraenidae to understand the diversity of velvety moray eels in tropical waters.

  • The family Muraenidae encompasses over 200 species of moray eels, many of which are found in coral reefs.

  • Known for their elongated bodies, the family Muraenidae plays a crucial role in the marine ecosystem as predatory fish.

Synonyms

Muraenidae
vsfamily Muraenidae
  • Specialized
9.9

A family of long hunting fish called moray eels that live in warm seas

is the ordinary descriptive phrase for that same family

Surface Forms

family Muraenidae singular
families Muraenidae plural

Morphology

family + Muraenidae

This phrase is fully compositional: 'family' denotes the taxonomic rank and 'Muraenidae' is the name of that group, so the overall meaning ('the family called Muraenidae') follows directly from the constituents. Taxonomic noun + proper taxon name patterns are cross-linguistically common and therefore predictable for a B1 learner who knows both constituent meanings.

Etymology

The name family Muraenidae comes from the old Latin and Greek word muraena, which meant a moray eel. The ending -idae is used in science to mark a 'family' or group of related animals, so the whole name means the 'family' of moray eels.