kləˈdistēə noun plural
Usage: capitalized
Etymology: New Latin, from clad- + -istia (from Greek histia, plural of histion web, cloth, sail, from histanai to make stand, stand) — more at stand
: an order of Teleostomi comprising primitive bony freshwater African fishes that have scales, head skeleton, and pectoral arch which resemble those of the extinct Archistia and that include the bichir and the reedfish — compare polypterus