Image Key > Bryozoa

• Tiny colonial animals (zooids).
• Range from mm to m in size.
• Adult colonies are sessile and usually attached to hard substrates though some can be found encrusting on seaweed. Some colonies are erect and plant-like and can be up to 1 m across.

• Bryozoans, or moss animals, are in fact colonies.
• Larvae of bryozoans are called cyphonaute larvae, and come from non-brooding bryozoans.
• Approximately 5,000 known living species.

• Larvae are triangular in shape and greatly compressed.
• Each lateral surface covered by a chitinous valve.
• Apical tuft of cilia present.

• Prefer warm tropical waters, but occur worldwide.

• Cyphonautes develop in the plankton from small eggs and grow extensively during a planktonic stage.
• Only larvae of non-brooding bryozoans possess a functional digestive tract and feed during their larval existence.
• Larvae that feed might live in the plankton for several months, while those from non-brooding species are non-feeding and have a very brief larval existence prior to settling.
• Upon settling, the larvae attach via adhesive sacs and metamorphose to the adult form.