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(Encyclopedia)sea slug, name for a marine gastropod mollusk that lacks a shell as an adult and is usually brightly colored. Sea slugs, or nudibranchs, are distributed throughout the world, with the greatest numbers...

sea snake

(Encyclopedia)sea snake, name for any of the venomous marine snakes of the family Hydrophidae, found in tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans. The sea snake's body is flattened laterally and its oarlike ...

sea spider

(Encyclopedia)sea spider, common name for members of the class Pycnogonida, long-legged, rather spiderlike organisms of the subphylum Chelicerata, widely distributed in marine waters. Most are tiny, from 1 to 9 mm ...

sea squirt

(Encyclopedia)sea squirt: see tunicate.

sea star

(Encyclopedia)sea star, also called starfish, echinoderm of the class Asteroidae, common in tide pools. Sea stars vary in size from under 1⁄2 in. (1.3 cm) to over 3 ft (90 cm) in diameter. They are commonly dull ...

sea trout

(Encyclopedia)sea trout: see croaker.

sea urchin

(Encyclopedia)sea urchin, spherical-shaped echinoderm with movable spines covering the body. The body wall is a firm, globose shell, or test, made of fused skeletal plates and marked by regularly arranged tubercles...

sea walnut

(Encyclopedia)sea walnut, common name for some members of the phylum Ctenophora, whose members are also called comb jellies. ...