gastrozooidn.

1879 H. N. Moseley in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 169 429 In all Stylasteridæ two forms of zooids are present. One form has a mouth and gastric cavity, the other is devoid of these and has a purely tentacular function. For the former the term ‘gastrozooid’ is here adopted, and for the latter that of ‘dactylozooid’.

1932 L. A. Borradaile & F. A. Potts Invertebrata v. 147 The manubrium has come to lie outside the medusa bell as the gastrozooid.

1932 L. A. Borradaile & F. A. Potts Invertebrata xix. 608 These [buds] of the lateral row become gasterozooids which gather food for the community.

1961 Encycl. Brit. XII. 3/2 In certain colonies [sc. of polyps and medusæ], such as those of Millepora and Hydractinia.., the hydranths are not all alike. Some of them (gastrozooids) possess mouths as well as tentacles.

1967 E. J. W. Barrington Invertebr. Struct. & Function xxi. 449 The differentiation of the colonial polyps into gastrozooids, concerned with feeding, and gonozooids (blastozooids) concerned with reproduction.