entoproct

[en-tuh-prokt]

noun Zoology.

any of various sessile, chiefly marine, mosslike animals of the phylum Entoprocta (formerly a subphylum of Bryophyta), occasionally solitary polyps but usually forming branching colonies, each individual polyp having an almost closed ring of tentacles within which lie the mouth and anus.

adjective

belonging or pertaining to the phylum Entoprocta.

Compare ectoproct.

Origin of entoproct

First recorded in 1935–40; see origin at Entoprocta

Also called endoproct.