ascidians
|a-sid-i-ans|
🇺🇸
/əˈsɪdiən/
🇬🇧
/əˈsɪdɪən/
(ascidian)
saclike marine tunicate
Etymology
'ascidian' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'askidion', where 'askis' meant 'bag' (a diminutive 'askidion' = 'little bag').
'askidion' passed into Medieval Latin/Neo-Latin as 'ascidia'/'Ascidiacea' for the saclike marine animals, and later into English as 'ascidian' (plural 'ascidians').
Initially it referred to a 'small bag' or 'pouch' in Greek, but over time it came to denote the saclike marine organisms now called ascidians.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
any marine sessile tunicate of the class Ascidiacea, commonly called sea squirts; saclike filter-feeding invertebrates often attached to rocks, shells, or man-made structures.
Ascidians are common on rocky shores and often form dense colonies on submerged surfaces.
Synonyms
Noun 2
members of a group including both solitary and colonial species, some of which eject water when disturbed (hence the name 'sea squirt').
Researchers studied how ascidians in the bay respond to changes in water temperature.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/10/26 13:46