planula

[plan-yuh-luh]

noun

Zoology.

plural

planulae 

1. the ciliate, free-swimming larva of a coelenterate.

planula

/ ˈplænjʊlə /

noun

1. the ciliated free-swimming larva of hydrozoan coelenterates such as the hydra

planula

plural

planulae 

1. The flat, free-swimming, ciliated larva of a cnidarian.

Other Word Forms

• planular adjective
• planulate adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of planula¹

1865–70; < New Latin, diminutive of Latin plānum something flat. See plane ¹, -ule

Word History and Origins

Origin of planula¹

C19: from New Latin: a little plane, from Latin plānum level ground

Example Sentences

I told them about jellyfish life cycles—that jellies start off almost like a plant, clinging to the bottom of the sea, and how in that phase of life, they are a planula.

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As another illustration I may take the Magosphæra planula, discovered by Haeckel on the coast of Norway.

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The eggs are not always laid in the condition of the simple planula described above.

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The Norwegian Magosphaera planula, swimming about by means of the lashes or cilia at its surface.

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Some said that the original embryonic form of the metazoa was not the gastrula, but the "planula"—a double-walled vesicle with closed cavity and without mouth-aperture; the latter was supposed to pierce through gradually.

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