trochophore

[trok-uh-fawr, -fohr]

noun

Zoology.

1. a ciliate, free-swimming larva common to several groups of invertebrates, as many mollusks and rotifers.

trochophore

/ ˈtrɒkəsˌfɪə, ˈtrɒkəˌfɔː /

noun

1. the ciliated planktonic larva of many invertebrates, including polychaete worms, molluscs, and rotifers

Word History and Origins

Origin of trochophore¹

1890–95; < Greek trochó ( s ) wheel + -phore

Word History and Origins

Origin of trochophore¹

C19: from Greek trokhos wheel + _-phore

Example Sentences

Molluscs, annelids and numerous smaller phyla typically share stereotyped spiral cleavage patterns, cell-fate assignments and characteristic ciliated trochophore larvae, features that originated in the Precambrian era.

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Crassostrea gigas is also an interesting model for developmental biology owing to its mosaic development with typical molluscan stages, including trochophore and veliger larvae and metamorphosis.

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It is an ancestral larval form, corresponding perhaps to the stages immediately succeeding the trochophore in the development of Annelids, but with some of the later-acquired Crustacean characters superposed upon it.

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C, Trochophore of Polygordius. and D, later stage of the same, showing the development of the trunk.

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