Biodiversity & Conservation

A sea mat - Electra pilosa - General information

Electra pilosa

Image Keith Hiscock - Electra pilosa on macroalgae. Image width ca 10 cm.
Image copyright information

  • #
Distribution map

Electra pilosa recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

Sightings Have you seen Electra pilosa?
If so please submit your record.

Electra pilosa is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters 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 Common on all coasts of the British Isles, although under recorded on parts of the east coast.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Colonizes a variety of substrata in marine habitats from low water into the shallow sublittoral, particularly macroalgae such as Fucus serratus and laminarians.
Text page icon Description Electra pilosa may form star shaped or broad sheet colonies on the fronds of large algae (e.g. Laminaria and fucoids), small irregular patches on stones and shells, narrow tufts (independent of the substratum), or cylindrical incrustations around the fronds of small red algae (e.g. Mastocarpus stellatus). The zooids are ovate-oblong in shape, typically 0.5-0.6 by 0.25-0.35 mm. About half the front of the zooid is calcified but translucent, perforated by large pores, leaving an oval, membranous, frontal area distally, surrounded by 4-12 (often 9) spines. Spines vary in length but the median, proximal spine is always present and usually larger than the rest, although in some cases it may become well developed and longer than the zooid giving the colony a hairy appearance.

This review can be cited as follows:

Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters 2005. Electra pilosa. A sea mat. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 19/06/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=3246>