Anadromous

//əˈnæd.ɹə.məs// adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    That lives in the sea and breeds in fresh water. not-comparable

    "Shads and most species of salmon are anadromous."

  2. 2
    Of a fern: in which the first veins in a frond segment are produced towards the apex of the frond. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    migrating from the sea to fresh water to spawn wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
oceanodromous

Example

More examples

"Eulachon are an anadromous forage fish and are endemic to the northeastern Pacific Ocean; they range from northern California to southwest and south-central Alaska and into the southeastern Bering Sea."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀνάδρομος (anádromos, “fish entering a river from the sea”). By surface analysis, ana- + -dromous.

Related phrases

fresh water

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.