In biology, a zooid (individual animal unit in a colonial organism) that performs the primary functions of feeding and reproduction for the colony.
From auto- (self) + zooid (from Greek zoon, animal, + -oid, resembling). Zoological term from the 19th century describing functional units in colonial animals like bryozoans.
Autozooids are like the worker bees of coral and bryozoan colonies—they're the normal, feeding members while other specialized zooids handle different jobs, creating a tiny animal society inside each colony.
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