zoea

[ zoh-ee-uh ]

noun

, Zoology.

, plural zo·e·ae [zoh-, ee, -ee], zo·e·as.

1. any of the free-swimming larva of certain crustaceans, as the crab, having rudimentary legs and a spiny carapace.

zoea

/ zəʊˈiːə /

noun

1. the free-swimming larva of a crab or related crustacean, which has well-developed abdominal appendages and may bear one or more spines

Other Words From

• zo·eal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of zoea¹

1820–30; < New Latin, equivalent to Greek zō ( ḗ ) life + New Latin -ea -ea

Word History and Origins

Origin of zoea¹

C20: New Latin, from Greek zōē life

Example Sentences

Accompanied by relatives who helped her into Bucharest’s Children’s Palace, Zoea Baltag, born in 1916, welcomed her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday and declared it the only way to combat the pandemic.

From Washington Times

Accompanied by relatives who helped her into Bucharest’s Children’s Palace, Zoea Baltag, born in 1916, welcomed her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday and declared it the only way to combat the pandemic.

From Seattle Times

Known as zoea and no bigger than the head of a pin, the larvae can survive only in the salty waters at the mouth of the Chesapeake, which is in — you guessed it — Virginia.

From Washington Post

Using a handy guide provided, Matthias pointed out the critter was a zoea, a very young crab moving into the next stage of its life, a megalops.

From Washington Times

The Zoea was formerly regarded as a recapitulation of an ancestral form, but there can be no doubt that its peculiarities are the result of secondary modification.

From Project Gutenberg