rhinodon

See also: Rhinodon

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ῥίνη (rhínē, “rasp”) + ὀδούς (odoús, “tooth”).

Noun

rhinodon (plural rhinodons)

1. (very rare or nonstandard, archaic) A whale shark of the Indian Ocean.
   • 1877, Henry Mills Alden, Harper's New Monthly Magazine - Volume 54, page 154:

     But there were stories told me of how a harpooned rhinodon, having by a lightning-like dive exhausted the supply of rope, which had been accidentally fastened to the boat, dived deeper still, and so pulled pirogue and crew to the bottom" — as, being a true fish, it remains at the bottom as readily as at the top.

   • 1946, Major C. S. Jarvis, “A countryman's Notes”, in Country Life, volume 100, page 111:

     I was most interested to read in COUNTRY LIFE on June 28 the account of the rhinodon, or whale shark, in the Gulf of Akaba, who in the year 1943 bumped into a boat containing Fishery officials of the Palestine Government.

   • 2012, Dr Leslie Henry, The Historicity of the Book of Jonah, page 16:

     Several years ago in the English channel a man was swallowed by a rhinodon shark.

Usage notes

The taxonomic name from which this comes has been variously spelled "Rhinodon", "Rhincodon", "Rhineodon" and "Rhiniodon" (The author of the original publication apparently intended it to be "Rhineodon", but it was printed as "Rhincodon" in the actual publication). "Rhincodon" was officially chosen as the correct name in 1984 to end the confusion, but "rhinodon" seems to be the most common variant as a word in English.