sea squirt

noun

ascidian that can contract its body and eject streams of water

• Hypernyms: ↑ascidian

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noun

Etymology: so called from its habit of contracting and squirting out water when disturbed

: a simple ascidian

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any tunicate, esp. a sessile ascidian, so called from its habit of contracting its body and ejecting streams of water when disturbed.

[1840-50]

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sea squirt noun

A marine animal shaped like a double-mouthed flask, an ascidian

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Main Entry: ↑sea

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sea squirt,

1. any one of a class of small, soft-bodied marine animals of the tunicate subphylum that squirt water when they contract; a simple ascidian.

2. = tunicate. (Cf. ↑tunicate)

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n. a marine tunicate that has a baglike body with orifices through which water flows into and out of a central pharynx. ● Class Ascidiacea, subphylum Urochordata