gill slit

[ gil ]
/ gɪl /

noun

branchial cleft.

Origin of gill slit

First recorded in 1850–55

Words nearby gill slit

gill filament, gill fungus, gill net, gill pouch, gill raker, gill slit, gill-netter, gill-over-the-ground, gillard, gilles de la tourette syndrome, gilles de la tourette's disease

Example sentences from the Web for gill slit

  • It shifts in position with the position of the gill-slit, but there can be no backwards extension of the cavity.

    The Origin of Vertebrates |Walter Holbrook Gaskell

  • Between these two arches he found an opening, just as between two gill-arches a gill-slit.

    Form and Function |E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell

  • He refused to accept Huschke's derivation of the auditory meatus from the first gill-slit.

    Form and Function |E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell

  • He describes how in the embryo of the Blenny there is a short, thick arch between the first gill-slit and the mouth.

    Form and Function |E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell

British Dictionary definitions for gill slit

gill slit
/ (ɡɪl) /

noun

any of a series of paired linear openings to the exterior from the sides of the pharynx in fishes and some amphibians. They contain the gills

Medical definitions for gill slit

gill slit

n.

One of several rudimentary invaginations in the embryonic surface, present during development of air-breathing vertebrates and corresponding to the functional gill slits of aquatic species.

Scientific definitions for gill slit

gill slit

In primitive chordates and cartilaginous fish, such as sharks, one of several narrow external openings connecting with the pharynx through which water passes to the exterior, thereby bathing the gills. Bony fish and all other vertebrates, including humans, have rudimentary gill slits during their embryonic stage.