anthozoan

noun

an·tho·zo·an | \ ˌan(t)-thə-ˈzō-ən

Definition of anthozoan

: any of a class (Anthozoa) of marine cnidarians (such as the corals and sea anemones) having polyps with internal radial partitions and lacking a medusa stage

History and Etymology for anthozoan

New Latin Anthozoa, class name (from antho- antho- + -zoa -zoa) + -an entry 1

Note: The taxon Anthozoa, rendered in the vernacular as Blumenthiere, was introduced by the German zoologist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795-1876) in "Beiträge zur physiologischen Kenntniss der Corallenthiere im allgemeinen, und besonders des Rothen Meeres … gelesen in der Akademie der Wissenschaften am 3.März 1831," Physikalische Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Aus dem Jahre 1832 (Berlin, 1834), p. 255.

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