sea lily

n. Any of various marine crinoids having a flowerlike body supported by a long stalk and usually anchored to the ocean floor in deep water.

sea lily

n (Animals) any of various sessile echinoderms, esp of the genus Ptilocrinus, in which the body consists of a long stalk attached to a hard surface and bearing a central disc with delicate radiating arms: class Crinoidea (crinoids)

sea′ lil′y

n. a stalked, permanently attached crinoid. [1875–80]

Thesaurus

Noun

sea lily - crinoid with delicate radiating arms and a stalked body attached to a hard surfacecrinoid - primitive echinoderms having five or more feathery arms radiating from a central diskgenus Ptilocrinus, Ptilocrinus - sea lilies

sea lily

sea lily,

stalked echinoderm of the class Crinoidea. Sea lilies are ancient, having reached their peak in the Middle Mississippian period; about 5,000 fossil species are known. About 80 modern species remain. Marine animals, like all echinoderms, they are largely restricted to fairly deep water, from about 35 to 1,000 fathoms (60–300 m). Small organisms and particles are trapped in mucus in the water-vascular (ambulacral) grooves located on the feathery, branching arms and are conveyed to the mouth. Unlike the free-swimming feather starsfeather star,
common name of a class of echinoderms that, as juveniles, are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk with rootlike branches; the mouth side faces upward. In the adult stage they break away from the stalk and move about freely.
..... Click the link for more information. to which they are related, sea lilies remain permanently attached to the ocean bottom. Two genera, Rhizocrinus and Cenocrinus, occur at moderate depths in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Sea lilies are classified in the phylum EchinodermataEchinodermata
[Gr.,=spiny skin], phylum of exclusively marine bottom-dwelling invertebrates having external skeletons of calcareous plates just beneath the skin. The plates may be solidly fused together, as in sea urchins, loosely articulated to facilitate movement, as in sea
..... Click the link for more information. , class Crinoidea.

sea lily

[′sē ‚lil·ē] (invertebrate zoology) The common name for those crinoids in which the body is flower-shaped and is carried at the tip of an anchored stem.

sea lily

sea lily

sea lily

sea′ lil′y

sea lily

sea lily,

sea lily

sea lily

Words related to sea lily

noun crinoid with delicate radiating arms and a stalked body attached to a hard surface

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