teleostean, a. and n. Ichth.
(tɛliːˈɒstiːən)
[f. mod.L. teleosteus (f. Gr. τέλεος, -ειος finished, complete, teleo-1 + ὀστέ-ον bone) + -an.]
a. adj. Belonging to or characteristic of the order Teleostei (Joh. Müller 1844) or osseous fishes, having the skeleton (usually) completely ossified. b. n. A fish of this order.
| 1859 Darwin Orig. Species ix. 305 Some palæontologists believe that certain much older fishes..are really teleostean. 1872 Ibid. x. (ed. 6) 285 If the teleosteans had really appeared suddenly..at the commencement of the chalk formation. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 90 The Perch... Its skeleton is typically Teleostean. Ibid. 429. |
So ˈteleost n. and a., also teliost (= F. téléoste), teleˈosteous a. = teleostean.
| 1862 Dana Man. Geol. iii. 278 note, The skeleton is bony, as the name Teliost..implies. 1880 Günther Fishes i. 22 The organisation of the Teleosteous fishes. 1891 Cent. Dict. 6216 (figure) Skull of Pike (Esox lucius), a teleost fish. 1895 B. Dean Fishes vii. 139 ‘Teleost’ must be used in a popular and convenient..sense..to denote..the modern ‘bony fish’. 1955 Auden Shield of Achilles i. 15 Had He picked a teleost Or an arthropod to inspire, Would our death also have come? 1979 C. E. Bond Biol. Fishes i. 6 Arranging the teleosts into lower, middle, and higher levels of organization may be a gross oversimplification. |