The story
Partial calque from translingual and phono-semantic matching of translingual Denticeps clupeoides (literally “herring-like tooth-head”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
denticle herring
Today it means: Denticeps clupeoides; a small, silver, clupeiform fish, the sole extant species in the suborder Denticipitoidei, found in rivers adjacent to the Gulf of Guinea in west-central Africa. Full definition →