DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Liv·er, n.  Anat. A very large glandular and vascular organ in the visceral cavity of all vertebrates.
 Note: ☞ Most of the venous blood from the alimentary canal passes through it on its way back to the heart; and it secretes the bile, produces glycogen, and in other ways changes the blood which passes through it. In man it is situated immediately beneath the diaphragm and mainly on the right side. See Bile, Digestive, and Glycogen.  The liver of invertebrate animals is usually made up of cæcal tubes, and differs materially, in form and function, from that of vertebrates.
 Floating liver. See Wandering liver, under Wandering.
 Liver of antimony, Liver of sulphur. Old Chem. See Hepar.
 Liver brown, Liver color, the color of liver, a dark, reddish brown.
 Liver shark Zool., a very large shark (Cetorhinus maximus), inhabiting the northern coasts both of Europe and North America. It sometimes becomes forty feet in length, being one of the largest sharks known; but it has small simple teeth, and is not dangerous. It is captured for the sake of its liver, which often yields several barrels of oil. It has gill rakers, resembling whalebone, by means of which it separates small animals from the sea water.  Called also basking shark, bone shark, hoemother, homer, and sailfish; it is sometimes referred to as whale shark, but that name is more commonly used for the Rhincodon typus, which grows even larger.
 Liver spots, yellowish brown patches on the skin, or spots of chloasma.

 Bask·ing shark Zool. One of the largest species of sharks (Cetorhinus maximus), so called from its habit of basking in the sun; the liver shark, or bone shark.  It inhabits the northern seas of Europe and America, and grows to a length of more than forty feet. It is a harmless species.
 ◄ ►

 Cetorhinus maximus
      n : large harmless plankton-eating northern shark; often swims
          slowly or floats at the sea surface [syn: basking shark]