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Webster 1913 Edition


Hectocotylus


Hecˊto-cot′y-lus

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Hectocotyli
(#)
.
[NL., fr. Gr. [GREEK] a hundred + [GREEK] a hollow vessel.]
(Zool.)
One of the arms of the male of most kinds of cephalopods, which is specially modified in various ways to effect the fertilization of the eggs. In a special sense, the greatly modified arm of Argonauta and allied genera, which, after receiving the spermatophores, becomes detached from the male, and attaches itself to the female for reproductive purposes.

Definition 2024


hectocotylus

hectocotylus

English

Noun

hectocotylus (plural hectocotyli)

  1. (biology) A modified arm of any of several male cephalopods that functions as a reproductive organ by transfering sperm to the mantle of the female