The sessile, cylindrical body form of cnidarians, typically attached to a substrate with the mouth and tentacles facing upward. Polyps can exist as solitary individuals or as part of colonial organisms like corals.
From Greek 'polypous' meaning many-footed, originally used by ancient Greeks to describe octopuses. The term was later applied to cnidarian polyps because their tentacles resembled the arms of an octopus, despite being very different animals.
The word 'polyp' creates one of biology's most confusing coincidences - coral polyps and octopuses (originally called polyps) are about as distantly related as two animals can be! Coral polyps are basically upside-down jellyfish that decided to settle down and grow a skeleton.
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