1Zoology A small stone swallowed by a bird, reptile, or fish to aid digestion in the gizzard.
〔动〕（鸟、爬行动物或鱼吞食以帮助在沙囊中消化的）小石块
Example sentencesExamples
The diet of the edentulous forms is unclear, but a recent discovery of gastroliths in an undescribed Chinese ornithomimosaur may indicate a herbivorous/granivorous diet for at least this species.
Such stomach stones or gastroliths have been reported from the gut regions or found nearby of prosauropods, sauropods and ornithopods.
However, the Seismosaurus fossil found with the most gastroliths held only 15 kg of stones, the largest no bigger than a grapefruit.
One of the avian characteristics of the emus is that they also eat small stones (called gastroliths or gizzard stones).
The presence of gastroliths (gizzard stones) in the rib cages of some specimens shows that this view is correct.
2Medicine A hard concretion in the stomach.
〔医〕胃石
Definition of gastrolith in US English:
gastrolith
nounˈɡastrəˌliTH
1Zoology A small stone swallowed by a bird, reptile, or fish to aid digestion in the gizzard.
〔动〕（鸟、爬行动物或鱼吞食以帮助在沙囊中消化的）小石块
Example sentencesExamples
The presence of gastroliths (gizzard stones) in the rib cages of some specimens shows that this view is correct.
The diet of the edentulous forms is unclear, but a recent discovery of gastroliths in an undescribed Chinese ornithomimosaur may indicate a herbivorous/granivorous diet for at least this species.
However, the Seismosaurus fossil found with the most gastroliths held only 15 kg of stones, the largest no bigger than a grapefruit.
Such stomach stones or gastroliths have been reported from the gut regions or found nearby of prosauropods, sauropods and ornithopods.
One of the avian characteristics of the emus is that they also eat small stones (called gastroliths or gizzard stones).