carapo

English

Etymology

Via Portuguese [Term?] from Tupian sara'pó.

Noun

carapo (plural carapos)

1. The banded knifefish, a Brazilian fish, Gymnotus carapo.
   • 1763, The Natural History of Fishes and Serpents, Including Sea-turtles, Crustaceous, and Shell Fishes, with Their Medicinal Uses: 3, page 67:

     The CARAPO, so called in Brasil, has a body about a foot in length, and not two inches in breadth, being in the shape of a knife, [...]

   • 1806, George Gregory, A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: In Two Volumes, page 892:

     2. Gymnotus carapo. The head of the carapo is of a compressed form, and the upper jaw projects beyond the lower: the tongue is short, [...]. The usual length of the carapo is from 1 to 2 feet; [...]. 3. Gymnotus rostratus, or rostrated gymnote. In its general aspect this species is much allied to the carapo, but is readily distinguished by the peculiar form of the head, [...]

   • 1893, Carl H. Eigenmann, Papers on Fishes of South and Middle America, page 556:

     The first species of the Sternopygidae mentioned in literature is the carapo of Marcgrav. The name Gymnotus was apparently introduced by Artedi [...]

   • 1957, Bulletin of Aquatic Biology, volumes 1-3, page 55:

     This single specimen was found among the carapo individuals of sample ZMA 101968. It agrees with the generic definition of Gymnotus as given by ELLIS (1913 : 113, 116-117), but differs from carapo in the following characters (cf. also table 1): greater preanal length [...]