salpa

[ sal-puh ]

/ ˈsæl pə /

noun, plural sal·pas, sal·pae [sal-pee] /ˈsæl pi/.

any free-swimming, oceanic tunicate of the genus Salpa, having a transparent, more or less fusiform body.

Nearby words

Also salp

[salp] /sælp/.

Origin of salpa

1510–20; < New Latin, special use of Latin salpa < Greek sálpē kind of fish

Related formssal·pi·form

[sal-puh-fawrm] /ˈsæl pəˌfɔrm/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for salpa

In Doliolum the body is barrel-shaped and the gills are less modified than in Salpa.
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)|David Starr Jordan
The stolon, like that in Salpa, contains a prolongation of the branchial sack.
The Works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume III (of 4)|Francis Maitland Balfour
Salpa, sal′pa, n. a remarkable genus of free-swimming Tunicates.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements)|Various
The gill-cavity in Salpa is much altered, the gills projecting into it dividing it into two chambers.
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)|David Starr Jordan

In order to move itself, the Salpa has recourse to a singular artifice.
The Ocean World:|Louis Figuier

British Dictionary definitions for salpa

salpa

/ (ˈsælpə) /

noun plural -pas or -pae (-piː)

any of various minute floating animals of the genus Salpa, of warm oceans, having a transparent barrel-shaped body with openings at either end: class Thaliacea, subphylum Tunicata (tunicates)

Derived Formssalpiform (ˈsælpɪˌfɔːm), adjective

Word Origin for salpa

C19: from New Latin, from Latin: variety of stockfish, from Greek salpē

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