free-swimming

American  

[free-swim-ing] / ˈfriˈswɪm ɪŋ /

adjective

Zoology.

1. (of aquatic organisms) not attached to a base nor joined in a colony; capable of swimming about freely.

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free-swimming British  

adjective

1. (of aquatic animals or larvae) not sessile or attached to any object and therefore able to swim freely in the water

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Other Word Forms

• free-swimmer
  noun

Etymology

Origin of free-swimming

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

“Observations of free-swimming newborn white sharks are extremely rare,” says Tobey Curtis, a shark scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who was not involved in the research.

From Science Magazine • Jan. 29, 2024

Currently, the researchers are refining their imaging techniques and experimental platform for a follow-up study to examine free-swimming sperm under similar conditions.

From Science Daily • Nov. 1, 2023

Living throughout the world’s temperate and tropical seas, stalked barnacles begin life as free-swimming larvae that ride ocean currents until they settle, often en masse, on driftwood, a ship’s hull, or other floating objects.

From National Geographic • Aug. 23, 2023

Instead it lives its entire life as a tiny free-swimming creature, and it does so inside a balloon made up of a transparent sheet of cellulose, the main constituent of plants’ cell walls.

From Scientific American • Feb. 3, 2022

These free-swimming larvae of the Ascidia have been known for a long time.

From The Evolution of Man — Volume 2 by Haeckel, Ernst Heinrich Philipp August