The world’s tropical seas are full of so much marine life, large and small, that it would take lifetimes to see them all. Places like Lembeh Strait in Indonesia harbor an incredible amount of macro life, creatures so small you completely miss them unless you really look. One of the more fascinating of these is the lacy bryozoan.
Bryozoans are invertebrate filter feeders that build colonies, much like corals, to ensure specific functions of the whole organism are attended to. These are passive creatures, affixing themselves to an anchored structure and extracting their nutrition from the water column pushing past their crown of retractable tentacles. One part of the colony secretes a substance to create the hard skeletal structure that protects them from damage and encourages further growth.
These exoskeletons can manifest in a variety of ways, including fans, bush-like structures, knobby clumps, sheets, and most commonly in marine species, encrusting anything from shipwrecks to kelp fronds. The latter type of bryozoans are considered pests in some parts of the world, where their encrusting of fronds is causing decimation of kelp forests. They can also accumulate en masse on ship hulls, increasing drag and fuel consumption, ultimately inhibiting the performance of these vessels.
But the lacy bryozoan in this clip taken in Lembeh Strait has its sights set on a more laid-back lifestyle, playing host to gobies, shrimp, and other small reef creatures seeking respite from the chaos of the reef. Its colony has created an exquisite form, resembling a bundle of delicate lace. Have you ever seen something more beautiful beneath the waves?
