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Freshwater and Marine Ectoprocts or Bryozoans: Ectoprocta

Sea Mat (electra Pilosa): Species Account



Physical characteristics: Sea mats form star-shaped or wide sheets of calcified crusts on seaweeds, rocks, and shells. The zooids are longer than they are wide and are sometimes egg-shaped. They have four to twelve spines, giving the colony a "hairy" look.




Geographic range: They are found all around the world in oceans with waters that are not too cold or warm.


Habitat: Sea mats live in shallow marine waters down to approximately 164 feet (5 meters). Their colonies are attached to small species of marine algae (AL-jee) and on the shells of mussels and other mollusks.


Diet: They eat bits of algae floating in the water.


Behavior and reproduction: Very little is known about the behavior of sea mats.

Sea mats form star-shaped or wide sheets of calcified crusts on seaweeds, rocks, and shells. (Fred Bavendam/Peter Arnold, Inc.)

They reproduce asexually by budding. Sexual reproduction involves fertilized eggs released into the water where they hatch into larvae.


Sea mats and people: This species does not impact people or their activities.


Conservation status: Sea mats are not considered threatened or endangered. ∎


FOR MORE INFORMATION

Books:

Brusca, Richard C., and Gary J. Brusca. Invertebrates. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 2003.

Smith, Douglas G. Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States: Porifera to Crustacea. New York: Wiley and Sons, 2001.


Periodicals:

McKinney, F. K. "Feeding and Associated Colonial Morphology in Marine Bryozoans." Reviews in Aquatic Sciences (1989): 255-280.


Web sites:

The Bryozoa. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/iba/pages/bryozoa.html (accessed on March 29, 2005).

Bryozoa Home Page. http://www.civgeo.rmit.edu.au/bryozoa/default.html (accessed on March 29, 2005).

International Bryozoology Association. http://petralia.civgeo.rmit.edu.au/bryozoa/iba.html (accessed on March 29, 2005).

What Is a Bryozoan? http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/IntroBryozoa.htm (accessed on March 29, 2005).

Additional topics

Animal Life ResourceMollusks, Crustaceans, and Related SpeciesFreshwater and Marine Ectoprocts or Bryozoans: Ectoprocta - Physical Characteristics, Behavior And Reproduction, Sea Mat (electra Pilosa): Species Account - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, DIET, ECTOPROCTS AND PEOPLE, CONSERVATION STATUS