beblondie Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 WHY BICHIR? When Europeans (French) discovered the genus Polypterus in 1809 it had already been known along the Nile since the time of the pharoahs. The local peoples referred to them as bichirs (unknown pronunciation and spelling). While unable to come up with an exact meaning for the word it was most likely a descriptive term (''whip'' has been suggested) for this type of fish. The French most likely pronounced it as phonetically as possible to the orginal native word and came up with bee-sheer as a pronunciation and spelled 'bichir'. Since this would be the name of these fish for several years until they were scientifically described and put into the proper family it became an accepted common name. However the correct English pronunciation is up for grabs. Several dictionaries all have their own pronunciation including the below: bee cher beech er biker bitcher bi cher Also known by the common name lobed fin pike The name Polypterus : poly=many + pterus=fins and is pronounced po-lyp'-terus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 How's Eric BB?? Take care Alan 104 aka Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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