Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In ichthyology, a genus of gadoid fishes, typical of the subfamily Phycinæ, having a ray of the first dorsal more or less elongated and filamentous; squirrel-hakes.
- noun In entomology, a genus of pyralid moths, erected by Fabricius in 1798, and giving name to the Phycidæ or Phycitidæ.
Etymologies
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Examples
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Again, Aristotle speaks of a certain nest-building fish, the 'phycis', and regarding this Cuvier fell into error (where once upon a time I followed him).
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The little phycis or black goby is an exception, as it spawns twice; the male of the black goby differs from the female as being blacker and having larger scales.
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Other fishes feed habitually on mud or sea-weed or sea-moss or the so-called stalk-weed or growing plants; as for instance, the phycis, the goby, and the rock-fish; and, by the way, the only meat that the phycis will touch is that of prawns.
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The phycis also changes its hue: in general it is white, but in spring it is mottled; it is the only sea-fish which is said make a bed for itself, and the female lays her spawn in this bed or nest.
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He mentions, among other similar cases, that our little fish _phycis_ has a close outward semblance to the sea-perch; and this is enough to clinch the proof that Aristotle's nest-building fish was not a goby but a wrasse.
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