opercular
/oʊˈpɜrkjələr/
adjective
- Relating to or serving as a lid or cover, especially a protective flap or plate in animals or plants.
- The opercular bones in fish help protect the delicate gill tissues.
- Some snails have an opercular structure that seals the shell opening.
- The opercular flap covers the gills of most bony fish.
noun
- A lid-like structure or covering part, such as the gill cover of a fish or the lid of a moss capsule.
- The opercular of the moss opened to release spores.
- Biologists studied the opercular to understand how the fish breathes.
- The opercular of the fish was bright orange and easy to see.