Plural of checkerbelly; fish with bellies marked by a checkered pattern, typically a type of dace or minnow.
Compound of 'checker' (a square pattern) and 'belly' (the underside). Named descriptively for the distinctive checkered markings on their undersides.
Fish names like this are pure observation—early naturalists simply looked at creatures and described what they saw, creating names that are basically scientific poetry.
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