zooxanthellahttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zooxanthella_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezooxanthella, n.
Revised 2017

zooxanthellanoun

Biology.
  1. 1882–
    Any of various typically yellow-brown photosynthetic dinoflagellates (formerly grouped in the genus Zooxanthella) which frequently live as symbionts within the cells of certain marine invertebrates, esp. reef-building corals. Chiefly in plural.
    Zooxanthellae are now placed in the genera Symbiodinium and Amphidinium (Phylum Dinoflagellata).
    1. 1882
      The yellow bodies (or zooxanthellæ of Brandt) which are found in the cells of the endoderm are probably..foreign algæ.
      Journal of Royal Microscopical Society vol. 2 794
    2. 1896
      Zooxanthellae..are most numerous in the tentacles.
      Sci. Trans. Royal Dublin Society vol. 6 418
    3. 1927
      Zooxanthellae in the free-living state are often provided with two flagella at one end of the body.
      I. E. Wallin, Symbionticism & Origin Species vi. 71
    4. 1958
      In Elysia and Tridachia , the flattened margin of the body is coloured by special zooxanthellae which multiply there.
      J. E. Morton, Molluscs ii. 39
    5. 1991
      Symbiotic dinoflagellates are often referred to as zooxanthellae, a term of convenience that is used for all brown or yellow-brown symbiotic algae and has little taxonomic significance.
      R. S. K. Barnes & K. H. Mann, Fundamentals of Aquatic Ecology (ed. 2) x. 204/2
    6. 2004
      The polyps that build the Reef eject the zooxanthellae (algae that provide them with nutrition) from their tissues in response to heat stress.
      Times Literary Supplement 11 June 7/1

zooxanthella, n. was revised in June 2017.

zooxanthella, n. was last modified in December 2023.