radula

American  

[raj-oo-luh] / ˈrædʒ ʊ lə /

noun

plural

radulae

1. a chitinous band in the mouth of most mollusks, set with numerous, minute, horny teeth and drawn backward and forward over the floor of the mouth in the process of breaking up food.

---

radula British  

/ ˈrædjʊlə /

noun

1. a horny tooth-bearing strip on the tongue of molluscs that is used for rasping food

---

Other Word Forms

• radular adjective
• subradular adjective

Etymology

Origin of radula

1745–55; < New Latin rādula, Latin: scraper, equivalent to rād ( ere ) to scrape, rub + -ula -ule

Example Sentences

These gelatinous slugs swim through the water column and stick their radula through a trunklike proboscis to snag prey, a hunting style similar to what the new study proposes for Typhloesus.

From New York Times • Sep. 20, 2022

A chitinous-toothed tongue called the radula is present in most mollusks.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

They feed by filtering particles from water and a radula is absent.

From Textbooks • Apr. 25, 2013

The morphology of the jaws and radula suggests that ammonites fed on small marine invertebrates—indeed, tiny crustaceans and snail-like gastropods were found among the jaws of one specimen.

From Science Magazine • Jan. 6, 2011

Margins of foot not prominent; no radula; shell external, with inconspicuous spire.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 5 "Gassendi, Pierre" to "Geocentric" by Various