gastrolith
Mar. 18th, 2015 07:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordgastrolith (GAS-struh-lith) - n., a stone or pebble which is or has been held inside the digestive tract of an animal to aid in buoyancy or food processing.
A gizzard stone -- kept in the gizzard, where muscles squeeze food between them to mash up food when (as with birds) chewing is not an option. Also can be a calcification in the stomach, but that seems to be a minor meaning. Coined in the 1850s from Greek roots gastro-, stomach + -lith, related to stone.
---L.
A gizzard stone -- kept in the gizzard, where muscles squeeze food between them to mash up food when (as with birds) chewing is not an option. Also can be a calcification in the stomach, but that seems to be a minor meaning. Coined in the 1850s from Greek roots gastro-, stomach + -lith, related to stone.
---L.
