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Gill slit   /gɪl slɪt/   Listen
noun
Gill  n.  
1.
(Anat.) An organ for aquatic respiration; a branchia. "Fishes perform respiration under water by the gills." Note: Gills are usually lamellar or filamentous appendages, through which the blood circulates, and in which it is exposed to the action of the air contained in the water. In vertebrates they are appendages of the visceral arches on either side of the neck. In invertebrates they occupy various situations.
2.
pl. (Bot.) The radiating, gill-shaped plates forming the under surface of a mushroom.
3.
(Zool.) The fleshy flap that hangs below the beak of a fowl; a wattle.
4.
The flesh under or about the chin.
5.
(Spinning) One of the combs of closely ranged steel pins which divide the ribbons of flax fiber or wool into fewer parallel filaments.
Gill arches, Gill bars. (Anat.) Same as Branchial arches.
Gill clefts. (Anat.) Same as Branchial clefts. See under Branchial.
Gill cover, Gill lid. See Operculum.
Gill frame, or Gill head (Flax Manuf.), a spreader; a machine for subjecting flax to the action of gills.
Gill net, a flat net so suspended in the water that its meshes allow the heads of fish to pass, but catch in the gills when they seek to extricate themselves.
Gill opening, or Gill slit (Anat.), an opening behind and below the head of most fishes, and some amphibians, by which the water from the gills is discharged. In most fishes there is a single opening on each side, but in the sharks and rays there are five, or more, on each side.
Gill rakes, or Gill rakers (Anat.), horny filaments, or progresses, on the inside of the branchial arches of fishes, which help to prevent solid substances from being carried into gill cavities.



Slit  n.  A long cut; a narrow opening; as, a slit in the ear.
Gill slit. (Anat.) See Gill opening, under Gill.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Gill slit" Quotes from Famous Books



... forth a pair of tiny hind legs, which generally trail behind him when he swims, though he often kicks with them, perhaps for exercise. He grows larger and his legs longer, and one day a row of fingers may be seen peeping out of his gill slit, as though out of an armhole, and then he will thrust out a forearm, then another from the other gill slit. After this, changes are rapid, and his keepers should put a stone or some firm object in the water, reaching ...
— The Renewal of Life; How and When to Tell the Story to the Young • Margaret Warner Morley

... equalize the pressure on either side of the drum-head. A comparative study of the ears of the vertebrata brings to light the fact that, as we descend in the animal scale, the four ear ossicles are replaced by large bones and cartilages connected with the jaw, and the drum and Eustachian tube by a gill slit. We have, in fact, in the ear, as the student will perceive in the sequel, an essentially aquatic auditory organ, added to and patched up to fit the new needs of a life ...
— Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata • H. G. Wells



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