Biodiversity & Conservation

An encrusting bryozoan - Conopeum reticulum - General information

Conopeum reticulum

Image Marco Faasse - A colony of the sea mat Conopeum reticulum. Image width ca 5 cm.
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Distribution map

Conopeum reticulum recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Conopeum reticulum is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters and Susie Ballerstedt Text page icon Refereed by: Dr Peter J. Hayward

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Bryozoa Sea mats, horn wrack & lace corals
Class Gymnolaemata
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland Recorded in a few locations on the west coast of Scotland (but probably more widespread (P. Hayward, pers. comm.)) and the north east of England. It is more common around the coast of Wales and along the south coast of Britain.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Conopeum reticulum favours estuaries and bays on sheltered coasts. Found from the lower shore into the shallow sublittoral, on hard substrata, shells, stones, and submerged structures. Not usually associated with plants. In brackish areas, it is often abundant on the inner sides of oyster valves (Ostrea edulis). Rarely found off-shore.
Text page icon Description Conopeum reticulum colonies form extensive gauze-like encrustations. Individuals (zooids) within the colony are approximately 0.4-0.6 x 0.2-0.3 mm in size, elongate, rectangular or polygonal in outline with a thickened, finely granular margin. The margin occasionally bears a few thin, pointed, delicate spines. The upper (frontal) surface of zooids is membranous with a semicircular light-brown operculum at one end. Triangular dwarf, non-feeding zooids are often present at the distal end of zooids in the gaps between the normal zooids.

This review can be cited as follows:

Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters and Susie Ballerstedt 2005. Conopeum reticulum. An encrusting bryozoan. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 20/06/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=3033>