Project Description
Rubbery Bryozoa
Alcyonidium spp.
Range/Geographical Distribution: All along the Atlantic coast, individual species are difficult to distinguish.
Habitat: Shallow waters near beaches and within estuaries.
Description: A rubbery, brown/white colonial bryozoan that attaches to hard substrates and encrusts other organisms such as sea whips or sea weeds.
Size: Colonies can reach about one foot in diameter and branches may be a half an inch thick.
Food: Suspension feeder; eats plankton.
Breeding: Reproductive habits of rubbery bryozoan are unknown.
Predators: Fish, crabs, and sea urchins.
Conservation Status: No legal status.
Interesting Facts: Each individual zooid or polyp within the bryozoan colony has 14 tentacles that filter phytoplankton from the water at a rate of about nine milliliters per day.
On the Coast: Pieces of rubbery bryozoan colonies often wash up on Georgia’s beaches.