Definition

Noun: * A small, colonial aquatic invertebrate animal. Each colony is composed of numerous tiny, connected individual units called zooids. These animals are primarily marine, though some species live in freshwater. They are filter feeders, using a crown of tentacles (a lophophore) to capture food particles from the water. They attach to hard surfaces like rocks, seaweed, or shells.

Usage

• Moss animals are important components of marine ecosystems, providing habitat and food for other organisms.
• The fossil record of moss animals is extensive, helping scientists understand past marine environments.
• A biologist studied the delicate structure of a moss animal colony under the microscope.

Advanced Usage

• The scientific study of moss animals is called bryology (specifically for bryozoans), though this term is also used for the study of mosses in botany, which can cause confusion.
• In paleontology, the calcareous skeletons of some moss animal colonies are common fossils.

Variants and Related Words

• Bryozoan: This is the more common scientific and technical synonym for "moss animal."
• Polyzoan: An older, less common synonym for bryozoan.
• Sea mat: A common name for encrusting bryozoan colonies that form a mat-like layer on surfaces.
• Zooid: The individual, microscopic animal that is a single unit within a moss animal colony.

Synonyms

• Bryozoan
• Polyzoan (archaic)

Related Phrases / Terms

• Lophophore: The feeding structure, a crown of ciliated tentacles, characteristic of moss animals and some related phyla.
• Colonial organism: A life form where many individual organisms (zooids) live together in a connected group, often with division of labor.
• Sessile: Describes an organism that is fixed in one place and does not move, like a moss animal colony.

Noun

1. sessile aquatic animal forming mossy colonies of small polyps each having a curved or circular ridge bearing tentacles; attach to stones or seaweed and reproduce by budding