Biodiversity & Conservation

Trembling sea mat - Victorella pavida - General information

Victorella pavida

Image Michelle Carter - Zooids of Victorella pavida with lophophores everted. Image width ca 1 cm.
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Distribution map

Victorella pavida 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 Victorella pavida?
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  • WC_Act_1981
  • UK_BAP

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Michelle Carter and Angus Jackson Text page icon Refereed by: This information is not refereed.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Bryozoa Sea mats, horn wrack & lace corals
Class Gymnolaemata
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland In the British Isles, Victorella pavida is only found in Swanpool: a brackish water lagoon near Falmouth in Cornwall.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found in areas of low and fluctuating salinity such as estuaries and lagoons. The trembling sea mat grows in shallow water on submerged stones, plants and wood as well as artificial substrata such as concrete.
Text page icon Description This creature looks more like a plant than an animal. It is a colonial bryozoan that may form either diffuse branching chains or develop into dense clumps. During the peak of the growth season (summer), colonies have the appearance and texture of velvet. Individuals within a colony vary in shape and size. Attached zooids posses a roughly oval base and a cylindrical peristome (erect tube). Erect zooids may be cylindrical of slightly bulbous at the base. In dense colonies the zooids may be as short as 0.3 mm and in diffuse colonies they may reach 1 mm long.

This review can be cited as follows:

Michelle Carter and Angus Jackson 2007. Victorella pavida. Trembling sea mat. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 23/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=4576>