These vertebrate animals are attached to a surface and have a branched structure, hence zoophyte, literally animal plant, from Modern Latin zoophyton, from Greek zoophyton, from zoo- (animal) + phyton (plant).]

Shouldn't that be "invertebrate," if in reference to sponges?

Have some back bone, man!
don't ask, state, There has been a typo, and it should say "invertebrate," if it is a reference to sponges
sorry alex--could help but chide you to have back bone in this context!

>>invertebrate<<

Perhaps not -- (from Webster's unabridged):

2. The elastic fibrous skeleton of many species of horny Spongi[ae] (keratosa), used for many purposes, especially the varieties of the genus Spongia. The most valuable sponges are found in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and on the coasts of Florida and the West Indies.

Apparently a skeleton need not be calciferous (?)

following the 'keratosa' clue:

\Ker"a*tin\, n. [Gr. ke`ras, -atos, horn.] (Physiol. Chem.) A nitrogenous substance, or mixture of substances, containing sulphur in a loose state of combination, and forming the chemical basis of epidermal tissues, such as horn, hair, feathers, and the like. It is an insoluble substance, and, unlike elastin, is not dissolved even by gastric or pancreatic juice. By decomposition with sulphuric acid it yields leucin and tyrosin, as does albumin.

missing link to:

scleroprotein: a simple protein found in horny and cartilaginous tissues and in the lens of the eye.

Apparently, a skeleton can consist only of cartilage.

Dr. Bill?

A skeleton does not a vertebrate make.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/16/V0071600.html

and why is this an insult, if not for being spineless?

I think it points more to "You may be an animal, but that doesn't mean you're sentient", as Dorothy Parker probably woulda said it...

huh.

from the Bartleby link: A member of the subphylum Vertebrata, a primary division of the phylum Chordata that includes the fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, all of which are characterized by a segmented spinal column and a distinct well-differentiated head.


sponges got heads??

I don't remember ever before seeing a typo in "Today's Word"
posts. So Alex asked a rhetorical question. I'm not sure
about what may be called a "skeleton". The stiffening structure in some zoophytes might qualify for the term.
But the URL Faldage gave shows that "vertebra" implies segmentation and flexibility. Notochords as in the lamprey eels are flexible, but not segemented.
Let us not bite the hand that has fed us so many interesting
words and provides the site to discuss them.

From the A-H definition of sponge: "Any of numerous aquatic, chiefly marine invertebrate animals of the phylum Porifera, characteristically having a porous skeleton composed of fibrous material or siliceous or calcareous spicules and often forming irregularly shaped colonies attached to an underwater surface." So phylum Porifera, not Chordata. Seems like it was a typo

[These invertebrate animals are attached to a surface and have a branched structure, hence zoophyte, literally animal plant, from Modern Latin zoophyton, from Greek zoophyton, from zoo- (animal) + phyton (plant).]

Looks like he done is fixed it. (Bolding mine)

Ah you guys are just sponging off my ideas...

>why is this an insult

http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=4377

wow, tsuwm! Anu has a long memory...

well, two out of five... and he was on my distribution list.
:-/

From: Anu Garg (anu@wordsmith.org)
Subject: Erratum, viruses, suggestion, administrivia and an interesting story

Erratum:
The entry for zoophyte, the word for Feb 27, should read invertebrate,
not vertebrate.

Viruses:
Many of the viruses forge the From: line of email. Remember, we do not
send attachments. If you receive an email message that supposedly came
from Wordsmith.org but has an attachment, you can safely delete it.
Also, we use Linux, not Windows. You can't get a virus from us.

Suggestion:
Use an anti-virus software. Virus and spam often feed on each other.
Your virus-infected PC is used by spammers to send out spam.

Administrivia:
When you reply to an email from us, please do not include the original
message. We already have it. Also, do not send us messages with
attachments -- we filter them out.

And finally, something more interesting, a story about the English language.
Do you think English will go the way of Latin?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0226_040226_language.html

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