n.
A perforated platelike structure in most echinoderms that forms the intake for their water-vascular systems.
[So called because the perforations resemble those of a madrepore.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
