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Glite Dictionary
meristic

meristic

1 9.9
Scientists use counts of body parts like fins or scales to tell fish species apart
  • adjective
  • /məˈrɪstɪk/
  • Specialized
: merístico
  • In their research, they documented the meristic features of various fish species to compare their anatomical structures.

Examples

  • The scientists focused on meristic traits, such as the number of scales, to better understand the fish population.

  • Examples include morphological and meristic characters, occurrence of parasites, and disease and parasite resistance.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Meristic analysis revealed important differences in body parts among the fish sampled from different environments.

Surface Forms

meristic positive

Morphology

meristic = merism (opaque) = mer + istic

The combining form 'mer-' (meaning 'part') is not a standalone English word and the adjective is technical and unlikely to be predictable for average learners.

Etymology

Meristic comes from the Greek root meros, meaning 'part'. It is used in biology for counting separate body 'parts' — for example fin rays or scales — so meristic data are simply counts of parts that help scientists tell different kinds of fish apart.