Chondrichthys

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A taxonomic class of fishes whose skeletons are made of cartilage rather than bone, including sharks, rays and chimaeras
2. The group of jawed fishes with flexible cartilaginous skeletons, comprising sharks, skates, rays and ratfish
3. Scientific name for the cartilaginous fishes, a lineage that includes sharks, rays, skates and chimaeras

Etymology: Chondrichthyes is built from two Greek words: "chondros", meaning cartilage or grain, and "ichthys", meaning fish. The name is a modern scientific coinage, so the ancient Greeks never used it; it was formed from classical roots to label a class of fish whose skeletons are made of cartilage rather than bone. The Greek element "chondros" originally referred to a grain or small lump, which is why cartilage, the firm tissue that gives sharks, rays and chimaeras their flexible frames, came to be named after it. "Ichthys" is the same root found in "ichthyology," the study of fish. Together the two parts describe the defining feature of the group in plain terms.

Synonyms: cartilaginous fish