‖ Petromyzon Ichth.
(pɛtrəʊˈmaɪzən)
[mod.L. (Linnæus, 1735), f. Gr. πέτρο-ς stone + µύζων ‘sucking, sucker’, pr. pple. of µύζ-ειν to suck, lit. ‘stone-sucker’, formed on the explanation of late or med.L. lampetra, from lambĕre to lick + petra stone: see lamprey.]
Name of a genus of lampreys, now restricted to those of the northern hemisphere. Hence petroˈmyzont, any member of the Petromyzontidæ or lamprey family; petromyˈzontoid a., related to the lampreys; also n.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Suppl., Petromyzon, the stone⁓sucker, in the Linnæan system of zoology, the name of a genus of fishes of the chondropterygii order, comprehending the lamprey, &c. 1854 Badham Halieut. 438. 1878 Bell Gegenbaur's Comp. Anat. 448 In Petromyzon two enlargements which contain the auditory organ are attached to the sides of this capsule. |