sea slug
3
6.5
- noun
- /si slʌg/
- Specialized
:
babosa de mar
- To find out, we looked at a sea slug that does swim, but in a manner different from Tritonia.
- hermaphroditic sea slug
- species of sea slug
Examples
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Many sea slug neurons are unique in that each has its own anatomy and connectivity.
Academic text (2009) -
But in sea slugs, we can identify and study the same neuron in different individual animals.
Academic text (2009) -
My favorite find was a little sea slug that I had found.
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And this is Fred, our sea slug.
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Of the thousands of species of sea slugs that grace the Earth's oceans, fewer than a hundred can swim in some fashion.
Academic text (2009) -
What we have found startling is the great flexibility in the rather simple circuitry of sea slug brains.
Academic text (2009) -
How fast the sea slug creeps is determined by the rate at which the cilia beat, which is controlled by a pair of particularly large neurons.
Academic text (2009) -
Other sea slugs either flex laterally, rely on parapodial movements, or don't swim at all.
Academic text (2009) -
Finally, under the closing credits, the sea slug lets itself sink down through the silty water and into the mud, where it goes back to its usual slow, creeping ways.
Academic text (2009) -
The brightly colored sea slug gracefully glided across the coral reef.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A soft sea animal without a shell that is often brightly coloured
A soft sea animal like a slug with no shell and bright colors
How Dangerous
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'sea' (marine) + 'slug' (soft-bodied gastropod) yields a slug that lives in the sea. Although 'slug' often evokes a terrestrial animal, the modifier 'sea' transparently signals a marine counterpart, a regular noun–modifier compound pattern that a B1 learner who knows both words can infer.
Etymology
Sea slug comes from the simple image of a soft animal that looks like a land slug living in the sea. Because these creatures move slowly and have no shell, sea slug means 'a soft animal that lives in the sea and looks like a slug'.