Having the shape or form of a shrimp; resembling the body structure of a carid crustacean.
From Latin 'caris' (shrimp) combined with '-form' (having the shape of). This comparative anatomy term developed in the 19th century.
Scientists use '-form' words to describe shapes they see in nature—'cariform' means shrimp-shaped, which is actually way more specific than it sounds since shrimp have very particular body proportions found nowhere else in nature.
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