Word Study
hectocotylus
CIDE DICTIONARY
hectocotylus, n. [NL., fr. Gr. a hundred + a hollow vessel.].
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. [1913 Webster]
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