lamprey

views updated May 14 2018

lam·prey / ˈlamprē/ • n. (pl. -eys) an eellike aquatic jawless vertebrate (family Petromyzonidae) that has a sucker mouth with horny teeth and a rasping tongue. The adult is often parasitic, attaching itself to other fish and sucking their blood.

lamprey

views updated May 18 2018

lamprey a surfeit of this as a food fish is traditionally said to have caused the death of Henry I, according to a contemporary account quoted by Fabyan's New Chronicles of England and France (1516).

lamprey

views updated May 18 2018

lamprey XIII. —OF. lampreie (mod. lamproie) :- medL. lamprēda (whence also OE. lamprede); poss. alt. of lampetra, expl. as f. lambere lick- + petra stone (with allusion to the lamprey attaching itself to stones). Cf. LIMPET.

lamprey

views updated Jun 27 2018

lamprey

views updated Jun 11 2018

lamprey Eel-like, jawless vertebrate found in marine and fresh waters on both sides of the Atlantic. It feeds by attaching its mouth to fish and sucking their blood. Length: to 91cm (3ft). Family Petromyzondiae.

lamprey

views updated May 21 2018

lamprey Cartilaginous fish resembling eels; sea lamprey is Petromyzon marinus, river lamprey or lampern is Lampetra fluviatilis.