ctenophore

noun

cteno·​phore ˈte-nə-ˌfȯr  ˈtē- 

: any of a phylum (Ctenophora) of marine animals superficially resembling jellyfishes but having biradial symmetry and swimming by means of eight bands of transverse ciliated plates

called also comb jelly

ctenophoran

tə-ˈnä-fə-rən 

noun or adjective

Examples of ctenophore in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

If the common ancestor lacked neurons, and neurons in most animals arose after ctenophores and sponges had already branched off, then the neurons in ctenophores must have evolved independently. —Cara Giovanetti, Scientific American, 4 Jan. 2024

Unlike ctenophores, however, placozoans have no neurons. —Cara Giovanetti, Scientific American, 4 Jan. 2024

Recent discoveries have shown that ctenophores have no synapses, the tiny connections between neurons. —Viviane Callier, Scientific American, 17 May 2023

But back in 2008, based on early information from the first sponge and ctenophore genomes, Dunn and his colleagues had proposed that comb jellies branched before sponges did. —Viviane Callier, Scientific American, 17 May 2023

Venus’s girdle, a species of comb jelly, or ctenophore. —Leslie Nemo, Scientific American, 8 June 2021

This little golden fellow, a bathypelagic ctenophore or comb jelly, anchors itself to the seafloor with its tentacles. —Discover Magazine, 7 July 2010

To humans, this ctenophore is a beautiful light show. —Discover Magazine, 29 June 2010

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. —Leslie Nemo, Scientific American, 8 June 2021

Word History

Etymology

ultimately from Greek kten-, kteis + pherein to carry — more at bear

First Known Use

circa 1882, in the meaning defined above