Talk:Leftvent

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[edit] Language difficulties.

This is a good article. However, I must take issue with some of the language in which it is written. I have a rich background in life sciences, an enormous vocabulary, and no belief in false modesty; it's a rare distinction when an article sends me running to the dictionary. I can only imagine how someone with less life-sciences background might feel.

So, some linguistic comments. I've corrected many of the issues, but there are some points I must mention:

Sessile bioluminescent organs are also present on the branches of this barbel.

It may be true that sessile bioluminescent organisms are present, but if what is meant is organs then we are looking for another word than sessile -- only I'm not quite clear on what it is.

short and stout denticular teeth are also present.

I must confess I do not quite know whether the word denticular means something else in ichthyology, but I have enough Latin to know that denticular translates to having the form of, or somehow related to, teeth. "Teeth-like teeth", then? We could use an explanation here for our non-Latin-speaking readers, and an explanation for the apparent contradiction with the previous sentence, which states clearly that in most species jaw teeth are absent. Are denticular teeth, then, not located in the jaw?

The dorsal fin and anal fin are of roughly equal size, both positioned far back from the head, and retrorse.

Retrorse? What is retrorse? Please explain this word for our readers or use a synonym they can understand.

Females possess strong sphenotic and preopercle spines

A description of what sphenotic and preopercle mean would be handy, and while you're at it something to clarify whether strong means large or possessed of tensile strength would be helpful as well.

--7Kim 19:28, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology

Can someone shed some light on the origin of the name "leftvent"? I ask because the article doesn't seem to mention the etymology, and it might be a point of interest. --...Wikiwøw. 02:27, 21 February 2008 (UTC)