ascidian

[uh-sid-ee-uh n]Zoology

noun

any solitary or colonial tunicate of the class Ascidiacea, exhibiting in the larval stage the vertebrate characteristics of a notocord and hollow nerve cord.

adjective

belonging or pertaining to the class Ascidiacea.

Origin of ascidian

1855–60; < New Latin Ascidi(um) a tunicate genus (see ascidium) + -an

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ascidian

Historical Examples of ascidian

The ascidian has only one eye inside its useless brain, while the tadpole and all other vertebrates have two from the very first.
The Evolutionist at Large
Grant Allen
So that in this respect the ascidian larva is nearer to the original type than the tadpole or any other existing animal.
The Evolutionist at Large
Grant Allen
The ascidian when born is a tiny, free-swimming, tadpole-like creature with a slender finned tail.
Elementary Zoology, Second Edition
Vernon L. Kellogg
Chabry had published in 1887 some interesting results on the Ascidian egg, which strongly supported the Roux-Weismann theory.
Form and Function
E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
The beginning of man an ascidian—his ultimate development as an angel, a pear-shaped, transparent bag.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 17, No. 97, January, 1876
Various

British Dictionary definitions for ascidian

ascidian

noun

any minute marine invertebrate animal of the class Ascidiacea, such as the sea squirt, the adults of which are degenerate and sedentary: subphylum Tunicata (tunicates)
ascidian tadpole the free-swimming larva of an ascidian, having a tadpole-like tail containing the notochord and nerve cord

adjective

of, relating to, or belonging to the Ascidiacea

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012