sea squirt

Any of various solitary or colonial sedentary tunicates of the class Ascidiacea, having a sac-shaped body with two siphons. Also called ascidian.

[From its habit of squirting water when disturbed.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sea squirt

(Animals) any minute primitive marine animal of the class Ascidiacea, most of which are sedentary, having a saclike body with openings through which water enters and leaves. See also ascidian

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sea′ squirt`

any of several attached tunicates of the class Ascidiacea, that, on contraction, eject a stream of water.

[1840–50]

sea squirt

Any of various primitive sea animals having a transparent, sac-shaped body with two siphons. Sea squirts pump water through the siphons and filter it with gill-like structures to catch food particles. Sea squirts belong to the group known as tunicates.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

sea squirt - ascidian that can contract its body and eject streams of water

ascidian - minute sedentary marine invertebrate having a saclike body with siphons through which water enters and leaves

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References in periodicals archive

The fried egg sea anemone, baked bean sea squirt, hot cross bun jellyfish, prawn cracker sponge, curled octopus and undulate ray are all thriving.

BLUE BELT SAVES LIFE

CANNY conservationists are celebrating the revival of the baked bean sea squirt and a raft of other oddly named sea creatures.

Return of the baked bean sea squirt and fried egg anemone; Weird and wonderful sea creatures make a comeback

The mighty baked bean ascidian, or sea squirt, can be found around UK's blue belt areas

Baked bean sea squirt among weird marine life found in UK's 'blue belt' zones; EXCLUSIVE: The prawn cracker sponge and fried egg sea anemone join a seahorse and a ray in revitalised conservation areas near Britain

While at the bottom of the trench the team captured footage of what are believed to be entirely new species, previously unseen by humans, including a new species of snailfish and an extraordinary gelatinous animal - thought to be a stalked ascidean, or sea squirt - which does not resemble anything seen before.

Doctor is plumbing new depths to bring us new species

This included a new species of hadal (living at depths of more than 6000m) snailfish and an "extraordinary" gelatinous animal - thought to be a stalked ascidean, otherwise known as a sea squirt - which does not resemble anything hitherto discovered.

Deep-sea discovery stuns marine experts; wonders at bottom of java trench filmed on expedition

Twenty years ago, we thought we were "the universe becoming conscious of itself." But then we met the lowly sea squirt, an animal that swims around until it attaches to a rock, digests its own brain, and becomes a plant.

FROM THE EDITOR

Lee produces three types with 40 percent, 25 percent and 23 percent alcohol content, and the spirit pairs well with dishes with strong flavors such as lamb, beef tenderloin and sea squirt, according to him.

'My hope is to set up a brewery in Pyongyang'

The exercise -- in which a number of organisms were logged which had previously not been seen so far North, such as the rare stalked jellyfish and an invasive species of sea squirt -- finished at the end of 2013.

Newcastle University to lead national project recruiting coastline army of volunteers; The success of the North East sea survey venture sees the [pounds sterling]1.7m project rolled out across UK in what is one of the largest of its kind

This first English translation of Tatsuaki Ishiguro's metafictions comprises four stories about the last specimens of exceedingly rare, geographically isolated species facing extinction: tiny winged mice that glow and shed tears; a white-haired, amnesiac young woman, her body temperature far below the human norm; a lovely, white, transparent weed, its glow radioactive; a tasty sea squirt, its ugly cancerous tumors both symbiotic and healing.

Tatsuaki Ishiguro. Biogenesis

Carpet Sea Squirt This recent arrival along the North Wales coast was first discovered at Holyhead marina in 2008 by scientists at the School of Ocean Sciences and is said to be a potentially problematic "alien" species as it is highly invasive.

IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE SEA TODAY YOU'RE SURE OF A BIG SURPRISE; Lydia Morris picks out six unusual sea creatures

What is a sea squirt and what in heck does it have to do with the day-to-day challenges of achieving and sustaining organizational excellence?

Sea Squirts and Organizational Excellence

They include slipper limpets, Chinese mitten crab and the carpet sea squirt, which can out-compete indigenous species for food and damage habitats.

Warning system for 'aliens' of the ocean