English Explanatory Dictionary

cassiosome

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A stinging-cell structure, composed of a layer of mainly nematocytes surrounding a core of dinoflagellates, amoebocytes and mesoglea, expelled within mucus by Rhizostomeae jellyfish to sting (and in some cases kill) prey in the surrounding water.

Word forms

cassiosome cassiosomes

Etymology

From Cassio(pea) (a genus of jellyfish) + -some, referring to a genus containing some of the jellyfish found to produce them. Coined 2020 by Cheryl L. Ames, et al., in a paper published in Communications Biology (see quotations below).

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