ScienceAugust 29, 2026
bolus
BOH-luhs
Definition
A small, rounded mass or lump of food that has been compacted during the feeding process.
Etymology
Derived from the Greek word 'bōlos', meaning a lump or clod of earth. It entered English in the 17th century, originally used in medical contexts to describe a rounded mass of medicine.
In the news
In this article, it refers to the small packet of food that a crinoid's tube feet compact together before the animal ingests it.
In the entire 485-million-year fossil record of sea lilies, only one fossil had ever been found with the tube feet the animals catch their food with, and a pair of crushed specimens from a Quebec quarry has now produced the second and oldest case, at about 452
Read the full article ↗ScienceBlog.com