Leptocephalus

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The flat, transparent larva of an eel, originally thought to be a distinct species.

    "There they spawn, and from the fertilized eggs emerge the leptocephali, which then ride on currents all the way back to Europe."

  2. 2
    slender transparent larva of eels and certain fishes wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
glass eelglass eel

Example

More examples

"There they spawn, and from the fertilized eggs emerge the leptocephali, which then ride on currents all the way back to Europe."

Etymology

From (obsolete) genus name Leptocephalus, equivalent to Ancient Greek λεπτός (leptós, “thin, slim”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”).

More for "leptocephalus"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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