ophiuroidn.adj.
/ˈɒfjᵿrɔɪd/, U.S. /ˈɑf(j)əˌrɔɪd/, /ˈoʊf(j)əˌrɔɪd/ Zoology.
A. n.
A marine echinoderm of the class Ophiuroidea, related to the starfishes and having long thin brittle arms that radiate from a small central disc; a brittlestar.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Echinodermata > [noun] > subphylum Eleutherozoa > class Ophiuroidea > member of
Ophiura1837
brittlestar1841
sand-star1841
serpent-star1851
ophiuran1864
spinigrade1864
ophiurid1869
ophiuroid1870
ophiure1890
1870 Amer. Naturalist 3 612 Prof. Verrill describes seven new species of Echinoids, five of Asteroids, six of Ophiuroids, and six new species of coral.
1888 G. Rolleston & W. H. Jackson Forms Animal Life (ed. 2) 548 It [sc. the gastrula] is said to be delaminate in the Ophiuroids Ophiothrix versicolor and Amphiura squamata.
1912 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 202 215 Bury..was speaking not of the young Ophiuroid but of the larva.
1957 Jrnl. Animal Ecol. 26 373 Ophiuroids are relatively common in the stomach contents [of fish], especially Amphioplus congensis which lives buried in soft mud.
2002 Limnol. & Oceanogr. 47 571 Ophiuroids contributed up to 7% of the total daily flux of particulate organic carbon..in the top trap.
B. adj.
Of, relating to, or characteristic of the class Ophiuroidea; of an ophiuroid.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Echinodermata > [adjective] > belonging to class Ophiuroidea
spinigrade1841
ophiuroid1877
ophiuran1882
ophiurid1882
1877 A. Agassiz N. Amer. Starfishes i. ii. 53 The young Starfish is still eminently ophiuroid in its most important embryonic features.
1888 G. Rolleston & W. H. Jackson Forms Animal Life (ed. 2) 549 The Echinoid and Ophiuroid larva is known as Pluteus.
1900 F. A. Bather et al. Echinoderma 3 No sharp line can be drawn between Asteroid and Ophiuroid structure.
1951 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 235 90 These pouches are formed during body outgrowths (the ophiuroid disk).
2002 Jrnl. Exper. Biol. 205 799 The aim of this work is to investigate the nature of control mechanisms of light emission in three luminous ophiuroid species.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1870