Definition of "veliger" []

• A larval stage of a mollusk characterized by the presence of a velum. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "What was discovered in the Wahpeton area is known as a veliger - a microscopic free-swimming zebra mussel that can float for weeks before eventually attaching to something and growing into a dime-size mussel."
• "They also go through a second larval stage called the veliger stage, which is also a free-swimming stage."
• "The trochophore matures into a veliger, which is the second stage of its development."