Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various small aquatic animals of the phylum Bryozoa that form encrusting or branching colonies attached to surfaces such as rocks, pilings, and seaweed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In zoology, relating to the Bryozoa.
  • noun One of the Bryozoa.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Bryozoa.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective zoology Pertaining to bryozoa.
  • noun zoology A bryozoon.
  • noun zoology A member of a bryozoan colony.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun 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

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From New Latin Bryozōa, phylum name : bryo– + Greek zōia, pl. of zōion, animal; see –zoon.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Bryozoa +‎ -an

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Examples

  • The area is underlain by extensive Pleistocene limestones with oolitic and bryozoan facies, overlaid by variable thicknesses of marl and peat, a thin porous crust which filters the surface water percolating to the aquifer.

    Everglades National Park, United States 2009

  • El Nino induced local extinction of coral reef bryozoan species from Northern Bahia, Brazil [An article from: Biological Conservation] by F. Kelmo

    The Upper limit to CO2 for Human Habitats 2009

  • If you've ever seen a lace-like pattern of carbonate encrusting a rock or shell, you're looking at the remains of a bryozoan colony.

    So many phyla so little time AYDIN 2008

  • In the Gulf of Maine, climate change and sustained overfishing may be acting synergistically, creating an environment that favors invasive species such as the green alga Codium fragile and the bryozoan Membranipora membranacea.

    Aquatic invasive species 2008

  • The bryozoan's seasonal growth yields growth rings, similar to a tree's

    BBC News - Home 2011

  • The organism in question is a bryozoan, a marine invertebrate that is a stationary bottom-dweller and feeds by filtering seawater.

    Ars Technica John Timmer 2011

  • Freshwater ectoproct bryozoan some info from Wikepedia

    The blog of Rob Margel - Windows Help Rob Margel 2011

  • The organism in question is a bryozoan, a marine invertebrate that is a stationary bottom-dweller and feeds by filtering seawater.

    Ars Technica John Timmer 2011

  • Comparing these samples with modern ones, scientists have now shown that the growth of a bryozoan, a tiny animal, has increased in recent years.

    BBC News - Home 2011

  • Other projects have since collected bryozoan samples at the same site, while the Census of Marine Life has increased the flow of data over the past decade.

    BBC News - Home 2011

Comments

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  • "There are about 8,000 living species, with several times that number of fossil forms known." (Wikipedia)

    September 1, 2008