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osculum

American  
[os-kyuh-luhm] / ˈɒs kjə ləm /

noun

  • oscula
    plural
  1. a small mouthlike aperture, as of a sponge.


osculum British  
/ ˈɒskjʊləm /

noun

  1. zoology a mouthlike aperture, esp the opening in a sponge out of which water passes

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of osculum

1605–15; < New Latin, Latin ōsculum, equivalent to ōs mouth + -culum -cule 1


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Oocytes arise by the differentiation of amoebocytes and are retained within the spongocoel, whereas spermatozoa result from the differentiation of choanocytes and are ejected via the osculum.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Lastly, choanocytes will differentiate into sperm for sexual reproduction, where they will become dislodged from the mesohyl and leave the sponge with expelled water through the osculum.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Their food is trapped when water passes through the ostia and out through the osculum.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Early larval development occurs within the sponge, and free-swimming larvae are then released through the osculum.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 25, 2013

With further complexity the simple internal cavity tends to disappear, and the sponge proliferates in such a way that more than one osculum is formed.

From Freshwater Sponges, Hydroids & Polyzoa by Nelson Annandale

Those “little mouths” are called ostia, and the openings where water flows out are oscula.

From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2022

When the embryo has become partly developed, it detaches itself from the parent sponge, and, issuing from the oscula, propels itself through the water by means of a number of flagella.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 601, July 9, 1887 by Various

From hence all faecal and other matter is discharged through the oscula, the larger openings observed on the surface of the sponge.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 601, July 9, 1887 by Various

External membrane closely adherent to the sponge except immediately round the oscula.

From Freshwater Sponges, Hydroids & Polyzoa by Nelson Annandale

The form of the oscula is characteristic in many cases.

From Freshwater Sponges, Hydroids & Polyzoa by Nelson Annandale

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