sparoid, a. and n. Ichth.
(ˈspærɔɪd, ˈspeɪrɔɪd)
[ad. mod.L. Sparoidēs, f. sparus sparus.]
A. adj. Of or belonging to, characteristic of, the Sparidæ or sea-bream family.
| 1836 J. Richardson Fauna Bor. Amer. iii. 71 No one Sparoid species is known to exist on both sides of the Atlantic. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 310 The genus Pentapus is founded upon certain Sparoid fishes found in the Indian Seas. 1862 Couch Brit. Fishes I. 220 The Sparoid Family, or Sea Breams. |
b. Of scales: (see quots.).
| a 1856 Yarrell Brit. Fishes (1859) II. 135 Sparoid scales are..thin, broader than long, with the centre of growth near their posterior border. 1880 Gunther Fishes 46 Scales, the free surface of which is spiny, and which have no denticulation on the Margin, have been termed Sparoid scales. |
B. n. A fish of this family.
| 1842 Brande Dict. Sci., etc. 1136/2 Sparoids, Sparoides, the name of a tribe of Acanthopterygian fishes of which the genus Sparus is the type. 1851 Mantell Petrifactions v. §1. 412 Sparoids, or Breams. 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 394 Californian Sparoids. |