SELACHIAN

[se.la.chi.an] n [ultim. fr. Gk selachos cartilaginous phosphorescent fish; akin to Gk selas brightness] (1835): any of a variously defined group (Selachii) of cartilaginous fishes that includes all the elasmobranchs or all elasmobranchs except the chimaeras, the existing sharks and rays or in its most restricted use the existing sharks as distinguished from the rays -- selachian adj