Marine Wildlife Encyclopedia
Gelatinous Bryozoan Alcyonidium diaphanum
Colonies of the gelatinous bryozoan have a firm, rubbery consistency and grow as irregular, lobed, or fingerlike growths that attach to their substrate with a small, encrusting base. The gelatinous bryozoan may cause an allergic dermatitis when handled, and North Sea fishermen are often affected when their trawl nets have gone through areas of dense gelatinous bryozoan undergrowth.
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- Order Ctenostomata
- Size_height Up to 12 in (30 cm)
- Depth From shore down
- Habitat Rocks and shelly sand
- Distribution Temperate waters of northeastern Atlantic
