— gastrotrichan /gas tro"tri keuhn/ , adj.
/gas"treuh trik/ , n.
any of the microscopic, multicellular animals of the class or phylum Gastrotricha, of fresh or salt waters, characterized by bands of cilia on the ventral surface of the bottle-shaped or ribbony body and by a protrusible feeding apparatus at the mouth.
[ 1935-40; Gastrotricha, equiv. to gastro- GASTRO- + Gk -tricha neut. pl. of -trichos -haired, adj. deriv. of thríx hair ]