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lumn. -- Spinal cord, the great nervous cord extending backward from the brain along the dorsal side of the spinal column of a vertebrate animal, and usually terminating in a threadlike appendage called the filum terminale; the spinal, or vertebral, marrow; the myelon. The nervous tissue consists of nerve fibers and n…

A fish having spines in, or in front of, the dorsal fins.

aving the form of a spine or thorn; spinelike. Spinous process of a vertebra (Anat.), the dorsal process of the neural arch of a vertebra; a neurapophysis.

and for its peculiar habit of springing lighty and suddenly into the air. It has a white dorsal stripe, expanding into a broad patch of white on the rump and tail. Called also springer. [Written also springboc, and springbock.]

Any one of a group of fishes having the dorsal and anal fins partially covered with scales.

ay (Zoöl.), a European skate (Raita radiata); -- so called from the stellate bases of the dorsal spines.

r wasp is a modified ovipositor. The caudal sting, or spine, of a sting ray is a modified dorsal fin ray. The term is sometimes applied to the fang of a serpent. See Illust. of Scorpion.

erous rays of the family Dasyatidæ, syn. Trygonidæ, having one or more large sharp barbed dorsal spines, on the whiplike tail, capable of inflicting severe wounds. Some species reach a large size, and some, esp., on the American Pacific coast, are very destructive to oysters.

achinus draco), which is capable of inflicting severe wounds with the spinous rays of its dorsal fin. See Weever.

Having dorsal vertebræ with long and divided transverse processes; -- applied to certain reptiles.

h- water fishes of the family Centrachidæ. They have a broad, compressed body, and strong dorsal spines. Among the common species of the Eastern United States are Lepomis gibbosus (called also bream, pondfish, pumpkin seed, and sunny), the blue sunfish, or dollardee (L. pallidus), and the long-eared sunfish (L. auritus…

Situated over, or on the dorsal side of, the sacrum.

Situated above, or on the dorsal side of, the body of the sphenoid bone.

Situated above, or on the dorsal side of, the esophagus; as, the supra-esophageal ganglion of Crustacea. [Written also supra- oesophagal, and supra-oesophageal.]

Above, or on the dorsal side of, the ethmoid bone or cartilage.

Situated over, or on the dorsal side of, the liver; -- applied to the branches of the hepatic veins.

The supraoccipital bone. Supraoccipital bone (Anat.), a bone on the dorsal side of the great foramen of the skull, usually forming a part of the occipital in the adult, but distinct in the young.

Situated above a spine or spines; especially, situated above, or on the dorsal side of, the neural spines of the vertebral column, or above, or in front of, the spine of the scapula.

A line resembling a seam; as, the dorsal suture of a legume, which really corresponds to a midrib.

The bones of the upper jaw are consolidated, and form a long, rigid, swordlike beak; the dorsal fin is high and without distinct spines; the ventral fins are absent. The adult is destitute of teeth. It becomes sixteen feet or more long.