soft ray (of a fin)
Technical term in ichthyology; refers to the flexible, segmented fin rays, as opposed to hard spines (棘条). Often contrasted with 鰭条 (きじょう) which can refer to fin rays in general.
See also: 鰭条
This fish has ten soft rays in its dorsal fin.
The counts of soft rays and spines are important for species identification.
Standard kanji spelling for this ichthyological term.
Compound of 軟 (なん, 'soft') and 条 (じょう, 'ray, stripe'), a straightforward technical term.