Bryozoan
Bryozoa
Distribution:
Often mistaken for corals, sponges or algae, bryozoans (lace coral and sea mosses) are a colony of tiny animals called zooids. Each zooid is protected by a calcareous (limestone) horny case, which is left behind when the animals die. Colony members are independent of each other, feeding on plankton and other particles suspended in the water. However, when disturbed they will act as one, retracting into their protective case.
Did you know?
Bryozoans reproduce by external fertilisation, releasing eggs and sperm into the water, which form free-swimming larvae. Larvae then attach themselves to a solid object and divide to create a new colony.
In This Section
- Chordates – Animals with backbones
- Invertebrates – Animals without backbones
- Abalone
- Acorn barnacle
- Baler shell
- Blue button sea jelly
- Bluebottle
- Bryozoan
- Bubbler crabs and sand balls
- Chiton
- Cone shell
- Coral
- Cowry shell
- Crab
- Cuttlebone
- Goose barnacle
- Hermit crabs
- Horned ghost crab (Manburr)
- Limpet
- Mud crab
- Mussel
- Periwinkle
- Pipi
- Ram’s horn shell
- Razor clam
- Sand dollars
- Scallop
- Sea hare
- Sea hares
- Sea jelly
- Sea star
- Sea urchin
- Silver-lip pearl oyster
- Sponge
- Tube worm
- Turban snail
- Violet snail
- Marine Pests
- Seagrasses and Algae
- Unusual Finds