unidentified bryozoan

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 their usual predators.

Text © Peter Brueggeman. Photograph © Jim Mastro. Photographs may not be used in any form without the express written permission of Jim Mastro.