nematocyst
English
Etymology
Formed as nemato- + cyst after the French nématocyste.
Noun
nematocyst (plural nematocysts)
- (biology) A capsule, in certain cnidarians, containing a barbed, threadlike tube that delivers a paralyzing sting
- 1885, R. J. Harvey Gibson, “Observations on the nematocysts of Hydra fusca”, in Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, volume 39, page 30:
- Often one sees, on surface view, a distinctly rounded vacuole, occupying a position in the cell occupied in others by a large nematocyst.
- 1902, Arthur Willey, Zoological Results Based on Material from New Britain, New Guinea, Loyalty Islands and Elsewhere, page 379:
- The young nematocyst decreases in size and becomes coarsely granular, the granules arranging themselves in a spiral line close under the external membrane.
- 2014, Anthony K. Campbell, Intracellular Calcium, page 350:
- Nematocyst discharge is another example of the Rubicon principle – it either fires or it does not.
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Synonyms
- cnida
- cnidocyst
- cnidocyte