Rubbery Bryozoan

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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.

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