ctenophore

[ ten-uh-fawr, -fohr, tee-nuh- ]

noun

1. any gelatinous marine invertebrate of the phylum Ctenophora; a comb jelly.

ctenophore

/ ˈtiːnə-; ˈtɛnəˌfɔː; tɪˈnɒfərən /

noun

1. any marine invertebrate of the phylum Ctenophora, including the sea gooseberry and Venus's-girdle, whose body bears eight rows of fused cilia, for locomotion Also calledcomb jelly

ctenophore

/ tĕn′ə-fôr′ /

1. Any of various, mostly small marine invertebrates of the phylum Ctenophora, having transparent, gelatinous bodies bearing eight rows of comblike cilia. Ctenophores have a branched digestive tract that also has circulatory function. Most ctenophores feed on plankton and are bioluminescent, producing brilliant displays of blue or green light at night. Ctenophores are related to cnidarians but are more highly evolved because their bodies have a true mesoderm.
2. Also called comb jelly

Derived Forms

• ctenophoran, adjectivenoun

Word History and Origins

Origin of ctenophore¹

From the New Latin word ctenophorus, dating back to 1880–85. See cteno-, -phore

Word History and Origins

Origin of ctenophore¹

C19: from New Latin ctenophorus, from Greek kteno-, kteis comb + -phore

Example Sentences

The first is a study from the journal Current Biology found that ctenophores, a phlyum of aquatic invertebrates better known as comb jellies, can successfully fuse together after being injured.

From Salon

And yet, neuronal-like cells exist in ctenophores, although they have important structural differences and lack the expression of most genes found in modern neurons.

From Science Daily

In the new paper, Dr. Caron and his colleagues proposed that the fossils from Utah and China represent ancient ctenophores, or comb jellies, another group of gelatinous animals only distantly related to true jellyfish.

From New York Times

If sponges branched before ctenophores, that would require these exact same four fusion and mixing events to have occurred independently in two lineages, the chance of which is vanishingly small.

From Scientific American

These parasitic amphipods bore to their host’s stomach, sometimes in large enough numbers that the victim looks more like a strainer than a jellyfish or ctenophore.

From Scientific American