noun
- a small marine mollusk with wing-like extensions used for swimming
Usage: zoological
Examples
- The pteropod swam gracefully through the ocean water using its wing-like appendages.
- Scientists collected pteropods from the plankton samples to study ocean acidification effects.
- These tiny pteropods form an important part of the marine food chain.
- The transparent shell of the pteropod made it difficult to spot in the water.
- Pteropods are often called sea butterflies because of their delicate, wing-like swimming organs.
- Climate change threatens pteropod populations in polar waters.