suctorian
English edit
Etymology edit
From translingual Suctoria + -an.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
suctorian (plural suctorians)
- A protist of the subclass Suctoria in the class Phyllopharyngea; a predatory sessile ciliate.
- 2011, Terence Allen, Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 11:
- If the tentacles are touched, the ‘prey’ is instantly paralysed, and the contents of its body are sucked down the tentacle into the body of the suctorian, reducing the prey to a shrivelled husk in a matter of minutes.
