Bichir

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A freshwater fish from Africa that belongs to the Polypteridae family, notable for its elongated body and unique ability to utilize lungs for breathing
2. This species, commonly found in African lakes and rivers, is recognized for its distinctive lobed pectoral fins and air-breathing adaptations
3. A type of freshwater fish native to African waters, characterized by its elongated body and capacity to breathe atmospheric air

Etymology: Bichir is the name of a family of African freshwater fish, Polypterus, and it began as a species name rather than a common one. The fish was collected and described in 1802 or 1803, and its scientific epithet, "bichir," was taken from the Arabic "bašīr," which in that context refers to the fish's local name in Egypt. Naturalists of the period often borrowed local names for newly described animals, and this is one of the few cases where such a name survived into English as the everyday word for the fish. Because the word came in through the scientific naming of a single species, it was never a folk word that spread slowly through speech. Its path into English runs through the taxonomy of the early nineteenth century, when describers of new animals reached for vernacular terms from distant places and fixed them in Latin binomials. The name then moved from the Latin species label into the vocabulary of aquarists and zoologists, who applied it to the wider group of related fish.

Synonyms: dinosaur eel, polypterus, bichir fish