zoanthacean (zoanthasean)

and n. [ II. n. Any member of the Zoanthacea . Zoantharia (zō-an-thā'ri-ä), n . pl . [NL. (De Blainville, 1830), ζῷον , animal (see zoon ), + ἄνθος , flower, + -aria .] A division (order or subcla ) of Actinozoa , containing the hexamerous or hex a coralline forms; the helianthoid polyps, or animal-flowers, contrasted with the Alcyonaria , and characterized by the normal disposition of their soft parts in sixes, or multiples of six (not in eights, as in the Alcyonaria or Octocoralla ), and by the po e ion of simple (not fringed) and usually numerous tentacles: so called from the resemblance of some of them, as the sea-anemones, to flowers. The Zoantharia correspond to the Hex a coralla or Cor all i gena , and were divided by Milne-Edwards into three suborders (or orders): Mala coder mat a , with the corallum absent or rudimentary, as in sea-anemones; Sclerobasica , with external non-calcareous corallum, as the black corals of the family Antipathidæ ; and Sclerodermata , with internal calcareous corallum, as the ordinary hard corals, or stone-corals. See the technical names. zoantharian (zō-an-thā'ri-an), a. and n. I. a. Having the characters of or pertaining to the Zoantharia . II. n. A member of the Zoantharia , as a sea