Wiktionary
alt. A gavial. n. A gavial.
Wikipedia
The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), also known as the gavial, and the fish-eating crocodile, is a crocodilian of the family Gavialidae, native to the northern part of the Indian Subcontinent. The global wild gharial population is estimated at fewer than 235 individuals, which are threatened by loss of riverine habitat, depletion of fish resources, and entanglement in fishing nets. As the population has declined drastically in the past 70 years, the gharial is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
The gharial is one of the longest of all living crocodilians, measuring up to , though it should be noted that this is an extreme upper limit, as the average adult gharial is only in size. With 110 sharp, interdigitated teeth in its long, thin snout, it is well adapted to catching fish, its main diet. The male gharial has a distinctive boss at the end of the snout, which resembles an earthenware pot known in Hindi as ghara. The gharial's common name is derived from this similarity.
Gharials once inhabited all the major river systems of the Indian Subcontinent, from the Irrawaddy River in the east to the Indus River in the west. Their distribution is now limited to only 2% of their former range. They inhabit foremost flowing rivers with high sand banks that they use for basking and building nests. They usually mate in the cold season. The young hatch before the onset of the monsoon.
The gharial is one of three crocodilians native to India, the other two being the mugger crocodile and the saltwater crocodile.
Usage examples of "gharial".
The raising of the bridge exposed the twenty-yard-wide moat, which teemed with magarmach and gharial and deva-knew-what other water-dwelling predators.
Like her, he kept his gharial caged so deep, by the time it emerged it was too late to prepare for its ferocity.
The gharial had sunk beneath the surface again, descending into the depths.
He pierced both eyes of a beast that was part stoat, part gharial, but it continued to writhe silently toward him, flicking its leathery tail from side to side, yellow puslike emissions seeping from around the fletchings of the arrows embedded deep within its sockets.
There was a gharial beneath that deceptively calm surfacean ancient reptilian creature whose ferocity and ruthlessness belied the surface calm.
Worse, King Manoos has made it clear he intends to hunt gharials there next spring, meaning I will be expected to house and feed the entire court for weeks at a time.