pyrosomen.
/ˈpʌɪrə(ʊ)səʊm/, U.S. /ˈpaɪroʊˌsoʊm/, /ˈpaɪrəˌsoʊm/ Zoology.
A colonial thaliacean (tunicate) of the genus Pyrosoma. Cf. Pyrosoma n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > division Molluscoidea > [noun] > division Tunicata > class Thaliacea > member of genus Pyrosoma
pyrosome1812
Pyrosoma1834
1812 tr. F. Péron in J. Pinkerton Gen. Coll. Voy. & Trav. XI. 760 What..of those Pyrosomes shaped like an enormous finger of a glove..which cover the sea with their innumerable hosts?
1856 S. P. Woodward Man. Mollusca iii. 344 The Pyrosomes are often gregarious in vast numbers.
1924 J. A. Thomson Sci. Old & New xxxix. 228 One of the most astonishing animals of the sea is the fire-flame, or pyrosome, a tubular colony of pelagic Tunicates, brilliantly ‘phosphorescent’ with greenish-blue light.
1980 Science 13 June 1272/1 Pyrosomes, angler fishes, and squids.
1995 C. Nielsen Animal Evol. lii. 407 The pyrosomes are so similar to colonial ascidians..that they are here included in the Ascidiacea.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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