fəˈrōnə̇s noun
Usage: capitalized
Etymology: New Latin, probably from Latin Phoronis (Io, mythical priestess of Argos who was loved by Zeus)
: a genus of small marine tubicolous unsegmented wormlike animals that have the mouth, anal opening, and nephridial apertures at one end of the body close together and surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped lophophore bearing numerous tentacles, a closed system of blood vessels containing red blood, and free-swimming larvae which pass through a complex metamorphosis — see actinotrocha , phoronidea