Biodiversity & Conservation

A sea mat - Electra crustulenta

Electra crustulenta

Image Hans Kleef and Peter Tydeman - Clump of Electra crustulenta from brackish pools in the Netherlands. Image width ca XX cm.
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Distribution map

Electra crustulenta 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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Electra crustulenta is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Bryozoa Sea mats, horn wrack & lace corals
Class Gymnolaemata
Authority (Pallas, 1766)
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Only recorded at a few isolated sites: Loch of Stenness, Orkney Islands; Poole Harbour, Dorset; Devon/Cornwall coast; the River Severn; and Loch Foyle, Northern Ireland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Limited to estuarine habitats. Found on various substrata from low shore to shallow water, including fronds of fucoids
Text page icon Description Electra crustulenta forms encrusting mats, large erect clumps or foliage-like cylinders around the stems of plants. Individuals (zooids) of the colony can be elongate, rectangular or oval, separated by narrow grooves and are approximately 0.5 mm long and 0.3 mm wide. The upper surface (frontal surface) of zooids is covered by about three quarters membrane and one quarter calcified shield (gymnocyst). The zooids are white and the operculum (door to the zooid orifice) is opaque white. Electra crustulenta zooids has crenulate margins with a single short spine.
Identifying features
  • Electra crustulenta forms mats, clumps or foliage-like structures.
  • Individuals (zooids) are approx. 0.5 mm long and 0.3 mm wide.
  • The margin bears a single short spine.
Additional information icon Additional information No text entered

This review can be cited as follows:

Susie Ballerstedt 2006. Electra crustulenta. 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/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3245>