noun

• A sedentary colonial coelenterate with upright branching stems bearing minute cups in which the polyps sit.

  Genus Obelia, class Hydrozoa

  ‘Obelia is used in many zoology textbooks to exemplify the Hydrozoa life cycle.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘In the coelenterate Obelia, the egg develops into a colonial hydroid consisting of a series of branching Hydra-like organisms called polyps.’
  • ‘Cnidarians of the genus Obelia form colonies of polyps in their asexual generation.’