Cheilostomatous bryozoan Reteporella sp.

Reteporella bryozoans have erect netted colonies with their branches fusing at regular intervals leaving elongated spaces between [1]. Reteporella colonies can be like a tree, a netted cup, or folded sheets [1]. Reteporella spp. are abundant in the Ross Sea in shallow and deeper water [3]. 81% (215 of 264) of Antarctic Cheilostomatida bryozoan species are endemic to Antarctica [1].

Species is not discernible at this magnification [1,2].

Bryozoans are sedentary animals that form colonies of individuals (zooids) by budding. The external skeletal walls of bryozoans are made with calcium carbonate (calcareous). Bryozoan zooids sit in the equivalent of a calcified box with a gated opening from which a feeding structure is protruded to capture small plankton; food is carried to the mouth with cilial hairs and then sucked into the stomach for digestion. Sea slugs and sea spiders are the usual predators of bryozoans.

Taxonomic Note: Genus changed to Reteporella from Sertella; it was Retepora before that [1]. Retepora may be misspelled Terepora in some older ecological articles.

1: Antarctic Cheilostomatous Bryozoa. PJ Hayward. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1995; 2: PJ Hayward, personal communication, 1999; 3: Biology and Palaeobiology of Bryozoans: Proceedings of the 9th International Bryozoology Conference, School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Swansea, 1992. PJ Hayward, JS Ryland and PD Taylor, eds. Fredensborg, Sweden : Olsen & Olsen, 1994. pp. 205-210

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