A barbed bristle or spine, especially on certain plants like cacti or on larvae of freshwater mussels.
From Greek glochis ('barbed point' or 'angle'). The word evolved to describe any small, sharp, barbed structure in biology.
Cactus glochids are devilishly effective at hitchhiking on animals—they're so tiny and barbed you can't see them, but they cause disproportionate itching, making them nature's nearly invisible weapon.
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