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Trembling sea-mat is a brackish-water representative of a group of colonial animals called bryozoa that is very diverse in the open seas. This particular species is very inconspicuous, forming a brown velvety coating on submerged vegetation and almost any other solid surface. In the UK it is found at only one location, Swanpool Lagoon at Falmouth in Cornwall, and the species may be globally endangered.
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Bryozoa Sea mats, horn wrack or lace 'corals'
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Gymnolaemata
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In the British Isles, Victorella pavida is only found in Swanpool: a brackish water lagoon near Falmouth in Cornwall.
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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.
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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.
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