CEPHALOPODA


Meaning of CEPHALOPODA in English

ˌsefəˈläpədə noun plural

Usage: capitalized

Etymology: New Latin, from cephal- + -poda

: the highest class of Mollusca containing the squids, cuttlefishes, octopuses, nautiluses, ammonites, and related forms all having around the front of the head a group of elongated muscular arms usually furnished with prehensile suckers or hooks, a highly developed head with large well-organized eyes showing remarkable resemblance to the vertebrate eye, usually a cartilaginous brain case, a pair of powerful horny jaws shaped like a parrot's beak, and in most existing forms a bag of inklike fluid which they can eject from the siphon, the higher forms (as the cuttlefishes and squids) being able to swim rapidly by ejecting a jet of water from the tubular siphon beneath the head

• ceph·a·lop·o·dan | ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷| ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷d ə n adjective or noun

• ceph·a·lo·pod·ic | ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷(ˌ)lō|pädik adjective

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.