nudibranchn.adj.
/ˈnjuːdɪbraŋk/, U.S. /ˈn(j)udəˌbræŋk/ Zoology.
A. n.
A marine gastropod mollusc of the order Nudibranchia, having a bilaterally symmetrical, often brightly coloured body, with no shell or mantle cavity and exposed gills; a sea slug.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Gastropoda > [noun] > superorder Branchifera > order Opisthobranchiata > suborder Nudibranchiata > member of
nudibranchian1839
nudibranch1844
nudibranchiate1880
1844 G. J. Allman in Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1845) 16 154 A small Nudibranchiate Gasteropod, which this naturalist [sc. M. de Quatrefages] conceives himself justified in separating..from all previously characterized genera of Nudibranchs.
1851 S. P. Woodward Man. Mollusca i. 36 The rudimentary shell of the nudibranchs is shed at an early age.
1862 G. Kearley Links in Chain vi. 136 One beautiful little Nudibranch common on our northern coasts.
1904 Science 22 Jan. 144/2 Referring in the same connection to the bright and varied colors of nudibranchs, he further declares, ‘Many brightly colored, white, or otherwise conspicuous species, do not seek concealment.’
1936 T. C. Roughley Wonders Great Barrier Reef 55 The beautiful naked-gilled molluscs known as Nudibranchs or sea slugs attack..anemones by rasping pieces out of their bodies.
1994 BBC Wildlife 11/1 The new flatworm is uncannily similar to one of the most common nudibranchs, or sea slugs.
B. adj.
= nudibranchiate adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Gastropoda > [adjective] > of superorder Branchifera > belonging to order Opisthobranchiata > belonging to suborder Nudibranchiata
nudibranchiate1838
nudibranchial?1841
nudibranch1855
1855 C. Kingsley Glaucus 100 You may see them depicted in Messrs. Alder and Hancock's unrivalled Monograph on the nudibranch mollusca.
1871 C. Darwin Descent of Man I. ii. ix. 32 Many of the nudibranch mollusca, or sea-slugs, are as brightly coloured as any shells.
1896 J. W. Kirkaldy & E. C. Pollard tr. J. E. V. Boas Text Bk. Zool. 303 The nudibranch larva is furnished with shell and operculum.
1924 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 10 238 This exquisite creature resembled nothing so much as a minute nudibranch mollusk.
1951 Science 12 Oct. 395/1 (title) Nudibranch spicules made of amorphous calcium carbonate.
1991 R. S. K. Barnes & K. H. Mann Fund. Aquatic Ecol. (ed. 2) x. 204/2 Other anthozoan coelenterates, such as the solitary sea anemones of the genus Anthopleura, together with some nudibranch gastropods, also contain intracellular algal symbionts.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1844