ctenophore

[prettygoodword]

ctenophore (TEN-uh-fohr, TEE-nuh-fohr) - n., any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Ctenophora, having transparent or translucent gelatinous bodies superficially resembling jellyfishes but having biradial symmetry and swimming by means of eight rows of comblike cilia, also called comb jellies.



Thanks, WikiMedia!

One of the oldest clades of multicellular animals, though exactly when it split off from other animals during the Cambrian Explosion is still TBD. Like yesterday, another silent initial C-, also inherited from an Ancient Greek root where it was pronounced -- in this case kten-, comb + -phóros, bearing.

---L.