bipinnaria

[bahy-pi-nair-ee-uh]

noun

plural

bipinnariae, bipinnarias 

1. the free-swimming, bilaterally symmetrical larva of certain starfishes.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bipinnaria¹

From New Latin; bi- ¹, pinna, -aria

Example Sentences

Larva of another Bipinnaria, showing the commencement of the Starfish.—g, canal of the ciliated sac; i, rudiments of tentacles; d, ciliated band.

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The bipinnaria larva of an echinoderm, the trochosphere larva of an annelid, the blastodermic vesicle of a mammal are all as highly specialized as their respective adults, but the specialization is for a different purpose, and of a different kind to that which characterizes the adult.

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