Also called moss animal.
any sessile marine or freshwater animal of the phylum Bryozoa, forming branching, encrusting, or gelatinous mosslike colonies of many small polyps, each having a circular or horseshoe-shaped ridge bearing ciliated tentacles, occurring on algae or on shaded objects.
bryozoan
British
/ ˌbraɪəˈzəʊən /
noun
Popular name: sea mat.
any aquatic invertebrate animal of the phylum Bryozoa , forming colonies of polyps each having a ciliated feeding organ (lophophore)
Any of various small aquatic invertebrate animals of the phylum Bryozoa that are capable of forming vast mosslike or branching colonies attached to seaweed or hard surfaces. Bryozoans reproduce by budding and feed on minute particles of plankton that they capture with tentacles. They are probably related to the phoronids and are the only animal phylum that does not appear in the fossil record until the early Ordovician Period.
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Nearly 30 years ago, scientists discovered a unique class of anticancer molecules in a family of bryozoans, a phylum of marine invertebrates found in tropical waters.
The pattern of cells in the nervous system suggested the animals belong to a vast group called the lophotrochozoans, which includes mollusks, corallike animals called bryozoans, brachiopods, and flatworms.
These ecosystems, which are key for the protection of coastal areas from different tropical storms, also provide a habitat for many organisms, including algae, barnacles, oysters, sponges and bryozoans.
