zooidhttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zooid_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezooid, n.
Revised 2017

zooidnoun

Biology.
  1. 1851–
    An organism or (esp. in early use) motile cell thought to resemble an animal but not to be one in a strict or full sense; esp. an invertebrate animal generated by budding, division, or other means of asexual reproduction; spec. any of the individuals which make up a colonial animal (bryozoan, cnidarian, etc.) and which often have specialized forms and functions. Frequently attributive. Cf. zoon n.
    nurse zooid: see the first element.
    Frequently as the second element in names of specialized forms of zooid, as anthozooid, gastrozooid, trophozooid, etc.
    1. 1851
      In strictness both Salpa B and Salpa A are only parts of individuals,—are organs... It is proposed therefore to call them, and all pseudo-individual forms resembling them, ‘zoöids’, bearing in mind always that while the distinction between zoöid and individual is real,..that between zoöid and organ is purely conventional.
      T. H. Huxley in Philosophical Transactions (Royal Society) vol. 141 579
    2. 1865
      The generative system is thrown off as it were, in the form of male and female zooids, destined to live but for a brief period, and more motile than the parent stock.
      Natural History Review vol. 5 372
    3. 1870
      In the Polyzoa polymorphic zooids are produced by gemmation.
      G. Rolleston, Forms of Animal Life p. lxxxvi
    4. 1880–1
      The flagella are developed..by both the motile and sedentary zooids [in the genus Colacium].
      W. Saville-Kent, Manual of Infusoria vol. I. 394
    5. 1888
      These zooids were a lively lot, and we had no difficulty in tracing the vibratory motion to the base of the spermatheca.
      Journal Microsc. & Nat. Science vol. 1 237
    6. 1910
      Around these tubes the uninjured zooids divide and grow with increased activity.
      F. Wood-Jones, Coral & Atolls ix. 110
    7. 1967
      When zooids are excited via the normal pathway of the putative rachidial nerve net, they luminesce only after the second or subsequent shocks.
      Biological Bulletin vol. 133 459
    8. 1983
      Zooid rows continue to proliferate throughout growth [in a bryozoan], allowing branches to widen proximal to a bifurcation.
      Paleobiology vol. 9 245/2
    9. 2010
      Funicular tissue is associated with minute communication pores in the zooid walls.
      Biol. Bulletin vol. 219 221/1
    10. 2013
      Each type of zooid has a specific role and cannot survive without the others.
      Observer 13 October (Tech Monthly Supplement) 23/2

zooid, n. was revised in June 2017.

zooid, n. was last modified in September 2024.