Marine Flora and Fauna of the Northeastern United States: Erect Bryozoa

摘要

Bryozoans are sessile, colonial invertebrates which form a familiar and often conspicuous part of the hard substratum epifauna in most marine habitats. Forty-nine species of erect Bryozoa from a broad range of Cyclostome, Ctenostome, and Cheilostome families are described and illustrated, and an artificial dichotomous key is provided for their identification. In general, the marine bryozoan faunas of the northeastern coasts of the United States are poorly known; species records are sparse and voucher collections few, and it is certain that many more species occur in the region than are presently known. The species described occur in intertidal, coastal or offshore habitats. Some of the species described have not been recorded at all on northeastern coasts of the United States, but are widely distributed in North Atlantic continental shelf habitats and perhaps occur in similar parts of the outer shelf of the region. The fauna is thus provisional, but is intended to stimulate further work on the Bryozoa.