Zooid

Not to be confused with zoid.

Pyrosoma atlanticum, a tunicate, is a colony of zooids

A zooid or zoöid /ˈzoʊ.ɔɪd/ is a single animal that is part of a colonial animal. This lifestyle has been adopted by animals from separate unrelated taxa. Zooids are multicellular; their structure is similar to that of other solitary animals. The zooids can either be directly connected by tissue (e.g. corals, Catenulida, Siphonophorae, Pyrosome or Ectoprocta) or share a common exoskeleton (e.g. Bryozoa or Pterobranchia). The colonial organism as a whole is called a zoon /ˈzoʊ.ɒn/, plural zoa (from Ancient Greek zôion ζῷον meaning animal; plural zôia, ζῷα).

Zooids can exhibit polymorphism. For instance, in Bryozoans, there are zooids adapted for different objectives, such as feeding, anchoring the colony to the substratum and for brooding embryos.

The term zooid has historically also been used for an organic cell or organized body that has independent movement within a living organism, especially a motile gamete such as a spermatozoon (in the case of algae now zoid), or an independent animal-like organism produced asexually, as by budding or fission.

See also

• Siphonophorae for colonial Hydrozoa which superficially resemble the other Cnidaria colloquially referred to as "jellyfish"
• Pyrosome for colonial Chordates in Tunicata