tunicate

tu·ni·cate  (tn-kt, -kt, ty-)

n.

Any of various chordate marine animals of the subphylum Tunicata or Urochordata having a cylindrical or globular body enclosed in a tough outer covering and including the sea squirts and salps.

adj.

1. Of or relating to the tunicates.

2. Anatomy Having a tunic.

3. Botany Having a tunic, as the bulb of an onion.

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[Latin tunictus, past participle of tunicre, to clothe with a tunic, from tunica, tunic; see tunic.]

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tunicate  (tn-kt)

Any of various primitive marine chordate animals of the subphylum Tunicata, having a rounded or cylindrical body that is enclosed in a tough outer covering. Tunicates start out life as free-swimming, tadpolelike animals with a notochord (a primitive backbone), but many, such as the sea squirts, lose the notochord and most of their nervous system as adults and become fixed to rocks or other objects. Tunicates often form colonies.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

tunicate - primitive marine animal having a saclike unsegmented body and a urochord that is conspicuous in the larva urochord, urochordate chordate - any animal of the phylum Chordata having a notochord or spinal column subphylum Tunicata, subphylum Urochorda, subphylum Urochordata, Tunicata, Urochorda, Urochordata - tunicates ascidian - minute sedentary marine invertebrate having a saclike body with siphons through which water enters and leaves salp, salpa - minute floating marine tunicate having a transparent body with an opening at each end doliolum - free-swimming oceanic tunicate with a barrel-shaped transparent body larvacean - any member of the class Larvacea appendicularia - free-swimming tadpole-shaped pelagic tunicate resembling larvae of other tunicates