Article
Article
Bryozoa
Article By:
Taylor, Paul D. Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom.
Ryland, John S. School of Natural Resources, University of the South Pacific, Laucala Bay, Suva, Fiji.
McKinney, Frank K. Department of Geology, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina.
Last reviewed:October 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.097900
A phylum of sessile aquatic invertebrates (also called Polyzoa) that form colonies of zooids. Each zooid, in its basic form, has a lophophore of ciliated tentacles situated distally on an introvert, a looped gut with the mouth inside the lophophore and the anus outside, a coelomic body cavity, and (commonly) a protective skeleton (Fig. 1). The colonies are variable in size and habit (Figs. 2 and 3). Some are known as lace corals and others as sea mats or moss animals, but the only general name is bryozoans.
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