Invertebrate
noun
Animal that doesn't have a backbone.
Jellyfish and insects are examples of invertebrates.
Often appears as...
- marine invertebrates
- terrestrial invertebrates
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Belonging to the animal group that doesn't have a backbone.
An invertebrate species like the earthworm has a simple structure.
Often appears as...
- invertebrate zoology
- invertebrate species
Usage tips
Academic
noun
Animal that doesn't have a backbone.
Jellyfish and insects are examples of invertebrates.
Often appears as...
- marine invertebrates
- terrestrial invertebrates
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Belonging to the animal group that doesn't have a backbone.
An invertebrate species like the earthworm has a simple structure.
Often appears as...
- invertebrate zoology
- invertebrate species
Usage tips
Academic
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Biological Emphasis
The term often appears in scientific contexts, biology classes, and nature documentaries.
Scientists categorize sponges as simple invertebrates.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Just Small
While many invertebrates are tiny, the term includes large animals like squids too.
The giant squid is one of the largest invertebrates in the ocean.
Pro Tip 3/3Diversity Highlight
Invertebrates make up the majority of animal species, showing incredible diversity.
Biologists are amazed by the diverse world of invertebrates.
Pro Tip 1/3Biological Emphasis
The term often appears in scientific contexts, biology classes, and nature documentaries.
Scientists categorize sponges as simple invertebrates.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Just Small
While many invertebrates are tiny, the term includes large animals like squids too.
The giant squid is one of the largest invertebrates in the ocean.
Pro Tip 3/3Diversity Highlight
Invertebrates make up the majority of animal species, showing incredible diversity.
Biologists are amazed by the diverse world of invertebrates.
Pro Tip 1/3Biological Emphasis
The term often appears in scientific contexts, biology classes, and nature documentaries.
Scientists categorize sponges as simple invertebrates.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Just Small
While many invertebrates are tiny, the term includes large animals like squids too.
The giant squid is one of the largest invertebrates in the ocean.
Pro Tip 3/3Diversity Highlight
Invertebrates make up the majority of animal species, showing incredible diversity.
Biologists are amazed by the diverse world of invertebrates.
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Video examples
Discovering Wildlife in...
So a fungi species like this one. will come in and soften the wood, and then you get things like invertebrates coming in and breaking down that organic matter further. I just love things like this. You can so easily just walk past and never even set your eyes on them. But as creepy and as weird looking as they are, they're so important to the environment.
Video examples
What's below the tip of...
Young icefish hide in small ice holes to avoid predators, while a variety of invertebrates, like jellyfish and siphonophores, congregate in the area. Many of them come to feed on krill, tiny shrimp-like creatures. Snow petrels nest on the icebergs and feed on the sea life nearby.
Video examples
Licking bees and pulping...
But the wasps are actually vital to this ecosystem. Sitting at the top of the local invertebrate food chain, these insects keep spiders, mites, and centipedes, in check. Wasps consume crop-eating insects, making them particularly helpful for farms and gardens.
Video examples
Finding Little Owls in...
These guys mate for life. So this is probably their spot, their dominion here, and they're very territorial, so he's now just coming out to sit there and make sure that no one else comes along while they get ready to hunt for small invertebrates.
Video examples
Filming Antarctica's...
and the entire system had collapsed and we would have never had another chance to get it that was it the invertebrates the smaller animals these micro cosmic worlds have all the dramas of the jungle or the the plains there there are heroes there
Video examples
Coral Reefs 101 PIPE...
These invertebrates can range from the size of a pinhead to a bit larger than a basketball. Each polyp consists of a soft, saclike body topped by a mouth covered in stinging tentacles. To protect their soft bodies and add support,
Video examples
How do animals...
But what about other types of animals like invertebrates? These animals aren't legally protected, partly because their behaviors are harder to read. We can make good guesses about some of them, like oysters, worms, and jellyfish.
Video examples
Why do we harvest...
have been protected by their blood. If you've ever had an injection, that probably includes you. How did horseshoe crabs end up with such special blood? Like other invertebrates, the horseshoe crab has an open circulatory system.
Video examples
How octopuses battle...
Greg The octopus is a rather strange-looking animal that exhibits amazingly complex behaviors. They have the most impressive nervous system in the entire invertebrate world. They have about a half a billion neurons
Video examples
Best Of Frogs PIPE Top 5 PIPE...
salamanders hunt for invertebrate prey throughout the night with its striking yellow and red markings this is a rare subspecies found only here
Video examples
Discovering Wildlife in...
So a fungi species like this one. will come in and soften the wood, and then you get things like invertebrates coming in and breaking down that organic matter further. I just love things like this. You can so easily just walk past and never even set your eyes on them. But as creepy and as weird looking as they are, they're so important to the environment.
Video examples
What's below the tip of...
Young icefish hide in small ice holes to avoid predators, while a variety of invertebrates, like jellyfish and siphonophores, congregate in the area. Many of them come to feed on krill, tiny shrimp-like creatures. Snow petrels nest on the icebergs and feed on the sea life nearby.
Video examples
Licking bees and pulping...
But the wasps are actually vital to this ecosystem. Sitting at the top of the local invertebrate food chain, these insects keep spiders, mites, and centipedes, in check. Wasps consume crop-eating insects, making them particularly helpful for farms and gardens.
Video examples
Finding Little Owls in...
These guys mate for life. So this is probably their spot, their dominion here, and they're very territorial, so he's now just coming out to sit there and make sure that no one else comes along while they get ready to hunt for small invertebrates.
Video examples
Filming Antarctica's...
and the entire system had collapsed and we would have never had another chance to get it that was it the invertebrates the smaller animals these micro cosmic worlds have all the dramas of the jungle or the the plains there there are heroes there
Video examples
Coral Reefs 101 PIPE...
These invertebrates can range from the size of a pinhead to a bit larger than a basketball. Each polyp consists of a soft, saclike body topped by a mouth covered in stinging tentacles. To protect their soft bodies and add support,
Video examples
How do animals...
But what about other types of animals like invertebrates? These animals aren't legally protected, partly because their behaviors are harder to read. We can make good guesses about some of them, like oysters, worms, and jellyfish.
Video examples
Why do we harvest...
have been protected by their blood. If you've ever had an injection, that probably includes you. How did horseshoe crabs end up with such special blood? Like other invertebrates, the horseshoe crab has an open circulatory system.
Video examples
How octopuses battle...
Greg The octopus is a rather strange-looking animal that exhibits amazingly complex behaviors. They have the most impressive nervous system in the entire invertebrate world. They have about a half a billion neurons
Video examples
Best Of Frogs PIPE Top 5 PIPE...
salamanders hunt for invertebrate prey throughout the night with its striking yellow and red markings this is a rare subspecies found only here
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Simon Conway Morris
British Scientist
If you go to the octopus, and if you're not too squeamish, dissect it. You'll find that it has a camera eye which is remarkable similar to our own. And yet we know that the octopus belongs to an invertebrate group called cephalopod mulluses, evolutionarily very distant indeed from the chordates to which we belong.
Quote examples
Peter Agre
American Scientist
Water is commonly regarded as the 'solvent of life,' since our bodies are 70% water. All other vertebrates, invertebrates, microbes, and plants are also primarily water. The organization of water within biological compartments is fundamental to life, and the aquaporins serve as the plumbing systems for cells.
Quote examples
Stephen Hillenburg
American Actor
I was thinking about what would it be, what would the characters be like, and it just suddenly dawned on me that, hey, nobody is doing an underseas show. So I started drawing these weird invertebrate animals, various characters like crawfish and starfish and squids and sponge.
Quote examples
Steve Backshall
The flesh-eating cockroaches and venomous centipedes in the Gomantong cave in Borneo were pretty unsavoury. They turn the floor of the cave, which is itself the world's largest pile of bird and bat poo, into a seething mass of invertebrate horror!
Quote examples
E. O. Wilson
American Scientist
When you get into the whole field of exploring, probably 90 percent of the kinds of organisms, plants, animals and especially microorganisms and tiny invertebrate animals are unknown. Then you realize that we live on a relatively unexplored plan.
Quote examples
Sy Montgomery
American Writer
I have thought for a long time that one day, if I finally got to deserve it, I would love to write about the minds of invertebrates.
Quote examples
Simon Conway Morris
British Scientist
If you go to the octopus, and if you're not too squeamish, dissect it. You'll find that it has a camera eye which is remarkable similar to our own. And yet we know that the octopus belongs to an invertebrate group called cephalopod mulluses, evolutionarily very distant indeed from the chordates to which we belong.
Quote examples
Peter Agre
American Scientist
Water is commonly regarded as the 'solvent of life,' since our bodies are 70% water. All other vertebrates, invertebrates, microbes, and plants are also primarily water. The organization of water within biological compartments is fundamental to life, and the aquaporins serve as the plumbing systems for cells.
Quote examples
Stephen Hillenburg
American Actor
I was thinking about what would it be, what would the characters be like, and it just suddenly dawned on me that, hey, nobody is doing an underseas show. So I started drawing these weird invertebrate animals, various characters like crawfish and starfish and squids and sponge.
Quote examples
Steve Backshall
The flesh-eating cockroaches and venomous centipedes in the Gomantong cave in Borneo were pretty unsavoury. They turn the floor of the cave, which is itself the world's largest pile of bird and bat poo, into a seething mass of invertebrate horror!
Quote examples
E. O. Wilson
American Scientist
When you get into the whole field of exploring, probably 90 percent of the kinds of organisms, plants, animals and especially microorganisms and tiny invertebrate animals are unknown. Then you realize that we live on a relatively unexplored plan.
Quote examples
Sy Montgomery
American Writer
I have thought for a long time that one day, if I finally got to deserve it, I would love to write about the minds of invertebrates.
Example 1 of 6
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