finless
Lacking swimming appendages
Finless means lacking fins.
It describes fish or marine mammals without the typical appendages: the finless porpoise of Asian waters.
The word also applies to watercraft or projectiles designed without stabilizing fins, or to situations where fins have been removed: finless sharks left to die after harvesting.
Elongated scaleless fish
- cetaceanAquatic mammal order
- whaleHuge sea mammal
- dolphinEcholocating marine mammal
- porpoiseSmall toothed whale relative
manatee · dugong · sea snake · lamprey · hagfish · legless lizard · axolotl · tadpole
China's mightiest waterway
- vaquitaTiny Mexican porpoise
- endangeredAt risk of extinction
- cetaceanAquatic mammal order
- freshwaterNon-saline aquatic environment
river dolphin · conservation · extinct · rare · protected · aquatic mammal
Glide smoothly, sinuously
- glideMove with effortless continuity
- undulateMove in waves
- wriggleTwisting, snakelike movement
- squirmTwist from discomfort
propel · jet · ripple · serpentine · streamlined · hydrodynamic · paddle · fluke
Deviating from expected norms
- aberrantDeparting from what's typical
- atypicalNot conforming to type
- deformedAbnormally shaped
- mutantGenetically altered organism
abnormal · rare · peculiar · oddity · malformed · defective · missing · absent
Changed through successive generations
- vestigialReduced, without current function
- reducedMade less in amount
- modifiedChanged in some way
- specializedAdapted for particular function
aquatic · streamlined · hydrodynamic · body shape · evolutionary · trait · morphology · convergent
eel
Elongated scaleless fish
porpoise · manatee · dugong · sea snake · lamprey · hagfish · legless lizard · axolotl · tadpole · larva
Yangtze
China's mightiest waterway
- vaquitaTiny Mexican porpoise
- endangeredAt risk of extinction
- cetaceanAquatic mammal order
freshwater · river dolphin · conservation · extinct · rare · protected · aquatic mammal
slither
Glide smoothly, sinuously
squirm · propel · jet · ripple · serpentine · streamlined · hydrodynamic · paddle · fluke · lateral movement
anomalous
Deviating from expected norms
mutant · abnormal · rare · peculiar · oddity · malformed · defective · missing · absent · lacking
evolved
Changed through successive generations
specialized · aquatic · streamlined · hydrodynamic · body shape · evolutionary · trait · morphology · convergent