beechiter or bichtr

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beblondie said:
There are several accepted ways of pronouncing it actually.Heres a brief history of it
WHY BICHIR?

When Europeans (French) discovered the genus Polypterus in 1809 it had already been known along the Nile since the time of the pharoahs. The local peoples referred to them as bichirs (unknown pronunciation and spelling). While unable to come up with an exact meaning for the word it was most likely a descriptive term (''whip'' has been suggested) for this type of fish.

The French most likely pronounced it as phonetically as possible to the orginal native word and came up with bee-sheer as a pronunciation and spelled 'bichir'. Since this would be the name of these fish for
several years until they were scientifically described and put into the proper family it became an accepted common name.

However the correct English pronunciation is up for grabs. Several dictionaries all have their own pronunciation including the below:
bee cher
beech er
biker
bercheer
bi cher
bir chir is common in England
Also known by the common name lobed fin pike,dinosaur eel.
The name Polypterus : poly=many + pterus=fins and is pronounced po-lyp'-terus
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:headbang2 :headbang2 :headbang2 only at MFK could I find info like this. Thank you very much. now I wont feel like a moron (As much) at the LFS
 
juvenile

baby bichir unk.jpg
 
one of my zoology professors really let me have it when I elicited the pronunciation "biker".
 
piranha45 said:
one of my zoology professors really let me have it when I elicited the pronunciation "biker".
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care to elaborate?
 
What was his pronounciation of the word?
 
beblondie, my fish is about the same as your pic up there will have a pic soon of the fish.
 
piranha45 said:
one of my zoology professors really let me have it when I elicited the pronunciation "biker".
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Why? Ask him/her how to pronounce Polypterus bichir. Ch is typically pronounced as a hard C, i.e., K sound, in Latin, as in characin and cichlid.
 
I got annoyed with witty coments like

"how do you get a hairy arsed Biker in a fish tank then ?"

so I now refer to mine as Polly's :D
 
#18 - thats funny! They're truly amazing fish. I have a tank with 10 in my office. No agression between them, and always fun at feeding time. Very easy to keep - and have no big requirements to water quality - they're facultative air-breathers - Peter
 
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