Bryozoa
Phylum of colonial aquatic invertebrates called moss animals
Bryozoa
The Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about 0.5 millimetres (1⁄64 in) long, they have a special feeding structure called a lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles used for filter feeding. The bryozoa are classified as the marine bryozoa (Stenolaemata), freshwater bryozoa (Phylactolaemata), and mostly-marine bryozoa (Gymnolaemata), a few members of which prefer brackish water. Most marine bryozoans live in tropical waters, but a few are found in oceanic trenches and polar waters. 5,869 living species of bryozoa are known. Originally all of the crown group Bryozoa were colonial, but as an adaptation to a mesopsammal (interstitial spaces in marine sand) life or to deep-sea habitats, secondarily solitary forms have since evolved. Five genera are solitary: Aethozooides, Aethozoon, Franzenella, Solella, which together make up the family Aethozoidae, and...
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