Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- A class of the Mollusca, the highest in organization in that division of the animal kingdom, characterized by having the organs of prehension and locomotion, called tentacles or arms, attached to the head. They are divided into two sections, Tetrabranchiata and Dibranchiata. The nautilus and the fossil genera Orthoceras, Ammonites, Goniatites, etc., belong to the Tetrabranchiata, in which the animal has an external shell. The dibranchiate group includes the argonaut, the octopus or eight-armed cuttlefish, and the ten-armed forms, as the calamaries, the fossil belemnites, etc. The shell is in all these internal, in some rudimentary, but the female argonautids develop an egg-case as a sort of external papery shell. The fossil Cephalopoda are multitudinous. See cuts under
Dibranchiata and Tetrabranchiata.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) The highest class of Mollusca.
WordNet 3.0
- n. octopuses; squids; cuttlefish; pearly nautilus
Examples
“The cephalopoda are the only locomotive animals in which the distinction of upper and lower does not exist.”
“The con also picked up our tab tickets, Coke, popcorn, ride for the Thursday Midnight Showing of Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Keira's Sunburn, which was pretty awesome, but I speak as a fan of Davy Jones, cephalopoda, and Keira's sunburn, so I may not be the most objective source.”
“The uterus is also double in the crustacea and the cephalopoda, for the membranes which include their so-called eggs are of the nature of a uterus.”
“To speak generally, if we take all animals which change their locality, some by swimming, others by flying, others by walking, we find in these the two sexes, not only in the sanguinea but also in some of the bloodless animals; and this applies in the case of the latter sometimes to the whole class, as the cephalopoda and crustacea, but in the class of insects only to the majority.”
“But we cannot say simply that all bloodless animals produce a scolex, for the classes overlap one another, (1) the insects, (2) the animals that produce a scolex, (3) those that lay their egg imperfect, as the scaly fishes, the crustacea, and the cephalopoda.”
“Sometimes also cephalopoda unite by the male mounting on the back of the female, but whether for generation or some other cause has not yet been observed.”
“In the cephalopoda (as also in the crustacea) the same passage serves to void the excrement and leads to the part like a uterus, for the male discharges the seminal fluid through this passage.”
“Some animals manifestly emit semen, as all the sanguinea, but whether the insects and cephalopoda do so is uncertain.”
“Both these eggs and those of the cephalopoda grow after deposition like those of fishes.”
“The young are produced in the same way also by the cephalopoda, e.g. sepias and the like, and by the crustacea, e.g. carabi and their kindred, for these also lay eggs in consequence of copulation, and the male has often been seen uniting with the female.”
Lists
‘cephalopoda’ hasn't been added to any lists yet.
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cephalopoda.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.