Diet

• Colonies: Bugula neritina is a colonial marine bryozoan, not a plant or alga. The colony is made up of hundreds or thousands of microscopic animals called zooids.

• Zooids: Filter-feed by extending a crown of fine tentacles called a lophophore, capturing phytoplankton, bacteria and other small suspended particles from the water.

• The feeding zooids continually filter the surrounding seawater as the colony grows.

Range

• Bugula neritina is a widespread bushy bryozoan in the family Bugulidae, occurring in tropical, subtropical and warm-temperate marine waters worldwide.

• It is occasionally sighted in Zihua, particularly in sheltered coastal areas with docks, boats and other submerged surfaces.

Habitat

• Usually found in shallow coastal marine environments, attached to rocks, shells, algae, pilings, docks, ropes, boat hulls and other hard surfaces.

• It is particularly tolerant of disturbed and heavily used coastal habitats, making marinas and harbour structures productive places to look.

• Around Zihua, examine submerged ropes, dock structures, rocks and boat hulls, especially in protected water.

• Colonies can develop rapidly when food is plentiful and water temperatures are favourable.

Size

• Colony: Usually forms branching, bushy colonies approximately 5–15 cm (2–6 in) tall, although substantially larger colonies can develop under favourable conditions.

• Individual branches are composed of many tiny zooids arranged in distinctive alternating rows.

• Colonies are generally brown, reddish-brown or dark purple-brown, although colour can vary with age and environmental conditions.

• Individual zooids are only a fraction of a millimetre long and require magnification to examine