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  

/ 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

• rotiferal
  adjective
• rotiferous
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of rotifer

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rotifer

Work in Gribble's lab by postdoctoral scientist Alyssa Liguori, who is now an assistant professor at SUNY-New Paltz, examined two different genotypes from the same rotifer species.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

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

This rotifer goes through another performance which I also believe to be simply a pastime.

From The Dawn of Reason or, Mental Traits in the Lower Animals by James Weir

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