gnatworm

plural gnatworms

1. rareThe aquatic larva of a gnat.

   The fry of kaluga fish, gnatworms, freshwater prawns, mysids, etc.

   1962, Lev Semenovich Berg, Freshwater Fishes of the U.S.S.R. and Adjacent Countries, page 55

   2 more examples

   He that would behold a very anomalous motion, may observe it in the Tortile and tiring stroaks of Gnatworms

   1658, Sir Thomas Browne, Hydriotaphia, page 160

   Here a rich insect-life had developped:^([sic]) Argynnis, wasps and Syrphidae, besides numerous dancing gnatworms.

   1909, Adolf Severin Jensen, “On the Mollusca of East-Greenland”, in Meddelelser om Gronland, page 345

   Synonyms: wiggler