Cellaria sinuosa

Sinuous cellaria

   Cellaria sinuosa is a bryozoan forming ivory colonies of up to 10 cm high. They have a bushy shape with cylindrical branches divided in a dichotomic way. Each branches develop from a dark joint giving the colony an articulated appearance. They are covered on the whole surface with zooids regularly set in longitudinal series. The whitish lophophores are quite invisible to the eye. Colonies of sinuous cellaria live attached to rocks, gravels or shells between 10 and 100 meters deep.
Cellaria sinuosa is reported in the Atlantic Ocean, the Englih Channel, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

Classification

 (source : European Register of Marine Species)

• Bryozoa [Phylum]
• Gymnolaemata [Class]
• Cheilostomatida [Order]
• Neocheilostomatina [Suborder]
• Flustrina [Infraorder]
• Cellarioidea [Superfamily]
• Cellariidae [Family]
• Cellaria sinuosa (Hassall, 1840)

Page glossary

Dichotomic : divided in two, in "Y" shape.
Zooid : Individual, single animal.
Lophophores : Crown of tentacles.

Authors

Top photograph :
© Maurice Loir. Published with author's kind permission : 
Cellaria sinuosa, Camaret, West-Brittany, West of France. Depth 12 meters.
Text :  Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2007-2009.
Translation :  Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2007-2009.

How to cite this page in publications

Bay-Nouailhat A., October 2007, Description of Cellaria sinuosa, Available on line at http://www.european-marine-life.org/17/cellaria-sinuosa.php, consulted on 04 July 2009.
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