Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Hectocotylus

Origin: NL, fr. Gr. A hundred _ a hollow vessel.

(Science: zoology) One of the arms of the male of most kinds of cephalopods, which is specially modified in various ways to effect the fertilization of the eggs. In a special sense, the greatly modified arm of argonauta and allied genera, which, after receiving the spermatophores, becomes detached from the male, and attaches itself to the female for reproductive purposes.