rotifer

American  

[roh-tuh-fer] / ˈroʊ tə fər /

noun

1. any microscopic animal of the phylum (or class) Rotifera, found in fresh and salt waters, having one or more rings of cilia on the anterior end.

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rotifer British  

/ rəʊˈtɪfərəl, ˈrəʊtɪfə /

noun

1. Also called: wheel animalcule.  any minute aquatic multicellular invertebrate of the phylum Rotifera , having a ciliated wheel-like organ used in feeding and locomotion: common constituents of freshwater plankton

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rotifer Scientific  

/ rō′tə-fər /

1. Any of various tiny, multicellular aquatic animals of the phylum Rotifera, having a wheel-like ring of cilia at their front ends. The cilia trap small organisms for food. Rotifers are grouped by some scientists together with nematodes and some other invertebrates as aschelminths.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• rotiferous
  adjective
• rotiferal
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of rotifer

From New Latin, dating back to 1785–95; see origin at Rotifera

Example Sentences

Each rotifer can create between 348,000 - 366,000 per day, leading to uncountable swarms of nanoparticles in our environment.

From Science Daily • Nov. 9, 2023

But even that near-suspension of animation would have nothing on a rotifer: one of these microscopic animals, pulled out of Siberian permafrost, spent the past 25,000 years in a frozen nap before being reanimated.

From Scientific American • Dec. 27, 2021

Three researchers at Harvard and Woods Hole sequenced portions of the genome of a certain rotifer and found all sorts of craziness that shouldn’t have been there.

From New York Times • Aug. 13, 2018

In this case, the rotifer shifted just in time, aligning itself to create the suction water current it uses to feed itself and giving a full-on view of its mouth to Moreno.

From Slate • Oct. 31, 2014

Another kind of rotifer was abundant—the Philodina, which belongs to the same family as the common wheel-bearer, namely, the Philodinæa.

From Marvels of Pond-life A Year's Microscopic Recreations by Slack, Henry J.