Aspect overview per species

Complementary to this aspect overview per species there is a searchkey / determination table that is, contrary to other search keys for bryozoans, focussed on use in the field and for determination of species based on detailed pictures made in the field. For that reason the general approach of using statoblasts to identify species is ignored. If statoblasts are visible on a picture, the details are too obscure to be usable.

The searchkey / determination table and also the aspect overview per species presented in this page, are made based on well defined aspects.

What also may help is a polyp compare page of the different species

Also presented are several examples of non bryozoans species that are easily confused with bryozoa.

Aspect overview per species

Species	Colony shape	Branching pattern	Appearance	Polypid form	Polypid position	Number of tentacles	Habitat	Additional remarks
P. articulata	Treeshaped, bushy	Irregular, open Non-adhering tubes	Smooth, chitinshine	Round	Sideways	10-20	Fresh water	Very thin zooids Vaak markante chitineglans Cystid spindelshaped Polypid opening in small square sideways extension
V. pavida	Crawling	Irregular, open, non-adhering tubes	Smooth	Round	Terminal	8	Brackish water	Stolon creeps and zooids extend from it
C. mucedo	Caterpillar shaped, sometimes hanging	Non branching	Transparent, smooth, gelatinous	Horseshoe shape	Anywhere	80 - 100	Fresh water	Zooids in rows along the edge of the colony
F. sultana	Treeshaped, sometimes crawling	Irregular, open, non-adhering tubes	Encrusted, sturdy, opaque	Round	Terminal	16 - 30	Fresh water
L. crystallinus	Sackshaped	Non branching	Smooth, gelatinous, transperent	Horseshoe shape	Anywhere	60-70	Fresh water	Tentakels steken ver en aan één kant uit de kolonie 10 tot 20 zoöiden vormen één kolonie
P. magnifica	Encrusting, knollshaped	Non branching	Smooth, gelatinous, transperent	Horseshoe shape	Anywhere	50 - 80	Fresh water	Forms very large colonies, up to 2 m across Colonies always have clearly recognizable rosettes of zooids Never in (fast) running water or below 16° C Submerged the tentacle crowns dominate, presenting a whitish lawn
H. punctata	crawling	Limited branching adhering tubes	Smooth, rimpled (not always), spotted	Horseshoe shape	Somewhere from the cystid tube	40-70	Fresh water	Gelatinous with clear wall
P. casmiana	encrusting, crawling	??	??	Horseshoe shape	Somewhere	Max 50	Fresh water	Closely packed zooids zooids often have a dorsal keel
P. emarginata	Treeshaped, crawling, encrusting	Open, adhering tubes	Encrusted, sturdy	Horseshoe shape	Terminal	30-60	Fresh water	Emargination not always present
P. fruticosa	Treeshaped	Open, regular, non-adhering tubes	Brittle, encrusted	Horseshoe shape	Terminal	30-60	Fresh water	Colony always upright and connected to the substrate in one or two places Zooids are triangular in cross-section
P. fungosa	Encrusting, knoll shaped	Irregular	Smooth	Horseshoe shape	Somewhere from the cystid tube	Max. 70	Fresh water	Mostly forms tightly packed colonies up to a few meters in diameter May also form P. repens like creeping colonies
P. geimermassardi	Encrusting	??	??	Horseshoe shape	??	30 - 40	Fresh water	Recently described for the first time
P. repens	Crawling, knollshaped, encrusting or hanging	Irregular, open	Smooth	Horseshoe shape	Somewhere from the cystid tube	40-70	Fresh water	Even in encrusting (fungoid) form the zooids are never closely packed Fungoid colonies very irregular, lobed and branches creeping from or hanging from the colony (as opposed to P. fungosa)