Ceratophyllum (sera to filum)

[NL., of ceratosus: see ceratose.] 1. The horny or fibrous sponges; the Ceratoda. Also Keratosa. Bower bank.-2. As restricted by Lendenfeld, a suborder of sponges, of the order Cornacuspongiæ, supported by a skeleton of spongin (exceptionally without any skeleton at all), the fiber without spicules proper, but with or without foreign bodies. In this sense it is composed of the families Spongida, Aplysinida, Hircinidæ, Spongeliida, Aplysillida, and Hali sarcide. Also Keratosa. ceratose (ser'a-tōs), a. and n. [ When the living matter is removed from a Ceratose sponge a network of elastic horny fibres, the skeleton of the animal, remains behind. Encyc. Brit., XXII. 428. II. n. Same as ceratode . Also keratose .