flame cell


noun Zoology.

one of the hollow cells terminating the branches of the excretory tubules of certain invertebrates, having a tuft of continuously moving cilia.

Origin of flame cell

First recorded in 1885–90

British Dictionary definitions for flame cell

flame cell

noun

an organ of excretion in flatworms: a hollow cup-shaped cell containing a bunch of cilia, whose movement draws in waste products and wafts them to the outside through a connecting tubule