telson
telson — noun
1. the hard, tail-like rear section on certain animals without a backbone — for exa
the hard, tail-like rear section on certain animals without a backbone — for example, crayfish, lobsters, and scorpions
The crayfish uses its telson to swim backward quickly when it senses danger.
telson used for backward swimming in crayfish
Dr. Okafor showed the class the telson of a horseshoe crab under the microscope.
A scorpion's telson holds the venom it uses to catch its prey.
When the lobster shed its shell, the new telson was still soft and pale.
Marine biologists measure the telson of each shrimp to tell the males from the females.
- caudal segment
more general term that can refer to the rear section of any segmented animal
- tail segment
less technical, easier to understand in non-scientific contexts
- abdominal tip
sometimes used in descriptions of insect anatomy
文法句型
the telson of [species]
[species]'s telson
用法筆記
A technical term used mainly in biology textbooks and scientific descriptions of arthropod anatomy. In everyday language, people often say 'tail' or 'tail section' instead.