A structure or organ in certain organisms that bears or produces cnidocytes, the stinging cells found in jellyfish and related creatures.
Compound from Greek knide (nettle, stinging cell) + -phore (bearer, carrier). Formed in 19th-century zoological terminology to describe structures that carry stinging cells.
Scientists basically invented this word to say 'stinging-cell carrier'—jellyfish essentially evolved biological weapons delivery systems!
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