• Animals Kingdom (Animalia)

• Bryozoans (Phylum Bryozoa)

• Narrow Throat Bryozoans (Class Stenolaemata)

​

The class Stenolaemata is a group of predominantly marine bryozoans, or moss animals, within the phylum Bryozoa. Members of this class are colonial, sessile invertebrates that live in interconnected groups of tiny individuals called zooids. Each zooid occupies a tubular or box-like skeletal chamber, usually composed of calcium carbonate, and extends a crown of tentacles known as a lophophore to capture microscopic food particles from the surrounding water. Stenolaemates are distinguished from other bryozoans by their cylindrical zooids and heavily calcified skeletons, which often form encrusting sheets, branching structures, or delicate lace-like colonies on rocks, shells, seaweeds, and other submerged surfaces.