cyamus

Thân thiện

A whale's skin is covered with tiny cyamus.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A genus of parasitic crustaceans: Cyamus is the scientific genus name for a group of small, parasitic crustaceans commonly known as whale lice.
   • Whale lice: These are amphipod crustaceans that live as ectoparasites on the skin of cetaceans, such as whales and dolphins.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The biologist studied the cyamus attached to the whale's skin.
  • A heavy infestation of cyamus can indicate the poor health of a marine mammal.

Advanced Usage

• In scientific taxonomy: The term is used in zoological and marine biology contexts to classify and discuss these specific parasites.
  • The paper described a new species within the genus Cyamus.

Variants and Related Words

• Whale louse (plural: whale lice): The common name for organisms of the genus .
  • The whale was covered in whale lice.

Synonyms

• Parasitic amphipod: A descriptive synonym highlighting its biological order.
• Cetacean ectoparasite: A technical term describing its host (cetaceans) and parasitic nature (external).

Notes on Meaning

• This word is highly specialized and is almost exclusively used in scientific literature. It is not a common term in everyday English.
• It refers specifically to the genus, so it is typically italicized in academic writing (e.g., ).

Học thuật

Noun

1. whale lice

Từ đồng nghĩa

• Cyamus
• genus Cyamus