A year ago I found some bryozoans in a small river and I had NO idea that this type of animal existed! I thought they looked like anemones but in fact they form a completely different and unique animal group 🤩 Did you know these precious microbabes existed?
Bryozoa, also known as Ectoprocta or moss animals, is a phylum of aquatic, colonial invertebrates living in marine and freshwater habitats.
A colony consists of many identical half-millimetre individuals called zooids, and, being sessile, the colony usually attaches itself to a solid base and then secretes a protective mucilage. The zooids are interconnected by a fluid filled cavity and externally by the protective coating. Each one feeds by a polypide consisting of a retractable crown of ciliated tentacles called Lophophores, a digestive tract, muscles and nerve centres.
Colonies tend to thrive during warm summer weather, feeding on suspended foodparticles such as green algae, diatoms, rotifers, protozoa, bacteria and even microcrustaceans. When autumn arrives, bryozoans can release dormant cold-resistant buds that contain germinative cells. These buds are able to survive winter and form new individuals when spring comes!
References:
Hickman, C. P., Roberts, L. S., Larson, A., Ober, W. C., & Garrison, C. (2015). Animal diversity. WC Brown. 191-192.
Wood, T. S. (2015). Phyla Ectoprocta and Entoprocta (Bryozoans). In Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates (pp. 327-345). Academic Press.
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