moloid

English

Noun

moloid (plural moloids)

1. A species in the Molidae subfamily, which includes molas and ocean sunfish.
   • 1890, “Molidea, n. pl.”, in William Dwight Whitney, editor, The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language […], volume IV, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 3825, column 3:

     The moloids are without pelvis or ribs; they have the body truncated behind, the caudal region aborted, and the jaws without median sutures.

   • 2003 December 2, Francesco Santini, James C. Tyler, “A phylogeny of the families of fossil and extant tetraodontiform fishes (Acanthomorpha, Tetraodontiformes), Upper Cretaceous to Recent”, in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, volume 139, number 4, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 568:

     The latter are divided into two clades, one of which is composed of the remaining scleroderms, with Balistidae + Monacanthidae (balistoids) as sister to Aracanidae + Ostraciidae (ostracioids); the other is composed of the gymnodonts, with Triodontidae (triodontoids) as sister to (Tetraodontidae + Diodontidae, tetraodontoids) and Molidae (moloids); the tetraodontid genus Canthigaster was recognized as familially distinct from the Tetraodontidae, and immediate sister to it.

Adjective

moloid (not comparable)

1. Relating to the Molidae subfamily.
   • 1894, Isaac K[aufmann] Funk, editor, A Standard Dictionary of the English Language, volume I, New York, N.Y. […]: Funk & Wagnalls Company, page 758, column 2:

     geph-y'ro-cer"cal. […] Having the caudal fin formed by the dorsal and anal uniting over the aborted axis of the body, as in moloid sunfishes.

References

• “moloid”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.