zoea

noun

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zo·ea | \ zō-ˈē-ə

plural zoeae\ zō-ˈē-ˌē

\ or zoeas\ zō-ˈē-əz

Definition of zoea

: a free-swimming planktonic larval form of many decapod crustaceans and especially crabs that has a relatively large cephalothorax, conspicuous eyes, and fringed antennae and mouthparts

History and Etymology for zoea

borrowed from New Latin, originally a genus name (the larva having been mistaken for a crustacean species), probably from Greek zōḗ "life" (derivative from the base of zô, zên "to be alive, live") + New Latin -ea, noun derivative from the feminine of Latin -eus -eous, zoo-

Note: Name introduced by the French botanist and zoologist Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc (1759-1828) in Histoire naturelle des crustacés, tome second (Paris, An X [1801-02]), p. 135. Bosc gives the vernacular name as zoé, but does not comment on the derivation of the word.