lophophore

[lof-uh-fawr, -fohr, loh-fuh-]

noun

1. the ring of ciliated tentacles encircling the mouth of a bryozoan or phoronid.

2. a similar organ in a brachiopod, composed of two ciliated, spirally coiled tentacles.

lophophore

/ ˈləʊfəˌfɔː /

noun

1. a circle or horseshoe of ciliated tentacles surrounding the mouth and used for the capture of food in minute sessile animals of the phyla Brachiopoda, Phoronida, and Ectoprocta

lophophore

1. A horseshoe-shaped ciliated organ located near the mouth of brachiopods, bryozoans, and phoronids that is used to gather food.

Other Word Forms

• lophophorate adjective
• lophophoral adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of lophophore¹

1840–50; < Greek lóph ( os ) a crest, ridge + -o- -o- + -phore

Example Sentences

Collar A longitudinally pleated circular membrane capable of being thrust out of the orifice in advance of the lophophore and of closing together inside the zoœcium above the tentacles when they are retracted.

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Zoaria dendritic; zoœcia distinctly tubular, with the ectocyst well developed; statoblasts of one kind only, each surrounded by a chitinous ring devoid of air-spaces; polypides with the lophophore circular or oval when expanded.

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The importance of the shape of the lophophore may, however, easily be exaggerated, for, as both Jullien and Goddard have pointed out, it assumes an emarginate form when retracted.

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The lophophore in most genera is horseshoe-shaped instead of circular, the part opposite the anus being deeply indented.

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Its status has been much disputed, some authors regarding the shape of the lophophore as of great morphological importance, while Jullien believed that Fredericella was merely an abnormal or monstrous form of Plumatella.

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