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鳈 (written traditionally as 鰁) is a phono-semantic compound: the left-side fish radical 鱼 marks it as a fish, and the right-side phonetic component 泉 (quán) provides the pronunciation and may evoke the freshwater springs or streams these fish inhabit. It was coined to designate small freshwater cyprinid fish, especially those found in the rivers and streams of East Asia. Because the character was created solely to categorize regional fauna, it serves strictly as a taxonomic term in ichthyology and local ecological descriptions, with no extended or metaphorical meanings, a purely biological label.
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