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polyp
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Illustration showing a cross section of a coral polyp with labeled parts including tentacles with nematocysts, mouth, zooxanthellae, living tissue linking polyps, gastrovascular cavity, skeleton, and limestone calice. An inset details a nematocyst within a tentacle. sea fan
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Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters
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Illustration showing a cross section of a coral polyp with labeled parts including tentacles with nematocysts, mouth, zooxanthellae, living tissue linking polyps, gastrovascular cavity, skeleton, and limestone calice. An inset details a nematocyst within a tentacle.
Cross section of a generalized coral polyp.

polyp

zoology
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polyp, in zoology, one of two principal body forms occurring in members of the animal phylum Cnidaria. The polyp may be solitary, as in the sea anemone, or colonial, as in coral, and is sessile (attached to a surface). The upper, or free, end of the body, which is hollow and cylindrical, typically has a mouth surrounded by extensible tentacles that bear complex stinging structures called nematocysts. The tentacles capture prey, which is then drawn...

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