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jellyfish

(Encyclopedia)jellyfish, common name for the free-swimming stage (see polyp and medusa), of certain invertebrate animals of the phylum Cnidaria (the coelenterates). The body of a jellyfish is shaped like a bell or ...

sea nettle

(Encyclopedia)sea nettle, any one of several species of stinging jellyfish, common along coasts and much feared by swimmers. Most stings are painful but are not dangerous to man; however, certain jellyfish of the o...

Cnidaria

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Internal anatomy of Hydra, representative of the phylum Cnidaria Cnidaria səlĕntəräˈtə [key], phylum of invertebrate animals comprising the sea anemones, corals, jellyfish, and hydroids....

purple sail

(Encyclopedia)purple sail: see jellyfish; polyp and medusa. ...

Nyad, Diana

(Encyclopedia)Nyad, Diana nīˈăd [key], 1949–, American distance swimmer, b. New York City as Diana Sneed, grad. Lake Forest College, 1973. She began swimming seriously as a teenager, becoming interested in dis...

medusa, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)medusa, in zoology, scientific name for the jellyfish, i.e., the free-swimming stage of various animals in the phylum Cnidaria. See polyp and medusa. ...

Ctenophora

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Pleurobrachia, representative of the phylum Ctenophora Ctenophora tĭnŏfˈərə [key], a small phylum of exclusively marine, invertebrate animals, commonly known as comb jellies. Because they...

symmetry, biological

(Encyclopedia)symmetry, biological, similarity or balance between parts of an organism so that when a straight cut is made through a point or along a line, equal, mirror-image halves are formed. Symmetry in body sh...

sea pansy

(Encyclopedia)sea pansy, fleshy, leaf-shaped colony of marine organisms belonging to the genus Renilla in the same phylum as the jellyfish. The colony consists of a stalk formed by a large organism called a primary...

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