Mouthbrooder

//ˈmaʊθbɹuːdə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any animal that cares for its offspring, either eggs or juveniles, by holding them in its mouth for extended periods of time.

    "However, [Franz] Steindachner (1875), in describing Arius planiceps, a catfish from Panama, found that at the breeding season the innermost edges of the ventral fins of the female are developed so as to form a kind of pocket. He conjectured that the eggs are extruded into this, fertilized by the male, and then taken into his mouth. He found a similar structure on the female of A. kessleri, the male of which is also a mouth brooder."

Synonyms

All synonyms
mouthbreeder

Example

More examples

"However, [Franz] Steindachner (1875), in describing Arius planiceps, a catfish from Panama, found that at the breeding season the innermost edges of the ventral fins of the female are developed so as to form a kind of pocket. He conjectured that the eggs are extruded into this, fertilized by the male, and then taken into his mouth. He found a similar structure on the female of A. kessleri, the male of which is also a mouth brooder."

Etymology

From mouth + brooder.

Related phrases

African mouthbrooderEgyptian mouthbrooderFuelleborn's mouthbrooderGuenther's mouthbrooderKatavi mouthbrooderLake Turkana mouthbrooderMozambique mouthbrooderNile mouthbrooderParaguay mouthbrooderblackchin mouthbrooderblue Victoria mouthbrooderdwarf Victoria mouthbrooder

More for "mouthbrooder"

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.