zoea

American  

[zoh-ee-uh] / zoʊˈi ə /

noun

Zoology.

plural

zoeae, zoeas

1. any of the free-swimming larva of certain crustaceans, as the crab, having rudimentary legs and a spiny carapace.

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zoea British  

/ zəʊˈiːə /

noun

1. the free-swimming larva of a crab or related crustacean, which has well-developed abdominal appendages and may bear one or more spines

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Other Word Forms

• zoeal adjective

Etymology

Origin of zoea

1820–30; < New Latin, equivalent to Greek zō ( ḗ ) life + New Latin -ea -ea

Example Sentences

Accompanied by relatives who helped her into Bucharest’s Children’s Palace, Zoea Baltag, born in 1916, welcomed her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday and declared it the only way to combat the pandemic.

From Seattle Times

Known as zoea and no bigger than the head of a pin, the larvae can survive only in the salty waters at the mouth of the Chesapeake, which is in — you guessed it — Virginia.

From Washington Post

Using a handy guide provided, Matthias pointed out the critter was a zoea, a very young crab moving into the next stage of its life, a megalops.

From Washington Times

The Zoea was formerly regarded as a recapitulation of an ancestral form, but there can be no doubt that its peculiarities are the result of secondary modification.

From Project Gutenberg

Besides the nauplius and the zoea there are many other types of Crustacean larvae, distinguished by special names, though, as their occurrence is restricted within the limits of the smaller systematic groups, they are of less general interest.

From Project Gutenberg