unidentified Cheilostomatous bryozoan

About ten genera of Antarctic bryozoans have this growth form [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.

1: Antarctic Cheilostomatous Bryozoa. PJ Hayward. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1995; 2: PJ Hayward, personal communication, 1999

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