anthozoan

noun

an·​tho·​zo·​an ˌan(t)-thə-ˈzō-ən 

: any of a class (Anthozoa) of marine cnidarians (such as the corals and sea anemones) having polyps with internal radial partitions and lacking a medusa stage

anthozoan adjective

Word History

Etymology

New Latin Anthozoa, class name (from antho- antho- + -zoa -zoa) + -an entry 1

Note: The taxon Anthozoa, rendered in the vernacular as Blumenthiere, was introduced by the German zoologist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795-1876) in "Beiträge zur physiologischen Kenntniss der Corallenthiere im allgemeinen, und besonders des Rothen Meeres … gelesen in der Akademie der Wissenschaften am 3.März 1831," Physikalische Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Aus dem Jahre 1832 (Berlin, 1834), p. 255.

First Known Use

1846, in the meaning defined above