A slender, thread-like or curl-shaped appendage, tendril, or extension found on certain organisms, especially marine creatures used for feeding or movement.
From Latin 'cirrus' meaning 'a curl, ringlet, or tuft of hair,' ultimately from an Indo-European root related to 'horn.' The term was adopted into scientific taxonomy to describe hair-like or tendril-like structures.
The plural of cirrhus is 'cirri,' and these structures show up in wildly different organisms—from the feathery antennae-like extensions of some worms to the actual curled tendrils of plants—because it's such an efficient design that nature invented it multiple times independently!
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