''Flustra foliacea'' is a species of

bryozoa Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary Colony (biology), colonies. Typically about long, they have a spe ...

ns found in the northern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. It is a colonial animal that is frequently mistaken for a

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

. Colonies begin as encrusting mats, and only produce loose fronds after their first year of growth. They may reach long, and smell like

lemon The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...

s. Its microscopic structure was examined by

Robert Hooke Robert Hooke (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath who was active as a physicist ("natural philosopher"), astronomer, geologist, meteorologist, and architect. He is credited as one of the first scientists to investigate living ...

and illustrated in his 1665 work ''

Micrographia ''Micrographia: or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. With Observations and Inquiries Thereupon'' is a historically significant book by Robert Hooke about his observations through various lenses. It wa ...

''.

Taxonomic history

''Flustra foliacea'' was studied as early as 1665, when

published observations of various organisms and materials made with an early

microscope A microscope () is a laboratory equipment, laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic ...

. It was first given a

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

in 1758, when

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

included it in the

10th edition 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

of his ' as ''Eschara foliacea''. In later publications, Linnaeus divided bryozoans into more than one genus, and so the species came to be called ''Flustra foliacea''. It is the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of the genus ''

Flustra ''Flustra'' is a genus of bryozoans belonging to the family Flustridae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution. Species Many formerly included species have been moved to different taxa. The following species are currently recognised: *'' F ...

''.

Description

''Flustra foliacea'' is often mistaken for a

, but is actually a

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

of animals. The

frond A frond is a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group. Other botanists allow the term frond to also apply to the lar ...

s can reach a height of and have rounded ends. They have a strong aroma of

s. It differs from the superficially similar ''

Securiflustra securifrons ''Securiflustra'' is a genus of bryozoans Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary Colony (biology), col ...

'' by the tendency of the frond branches to become markedly wider towards the tip. Each

zooid A zooid or zoöid is an animal that is part of a colonial animal. This lifestyle has been adopted by animals from separate unrelated taxa. Zooids are multicellular; their structure is similar to that of other solitary animals. The zooids can ...

is roughly rectangular, with 4–5 short spines at the distal end and 13–14

tentacle In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...

s around the

lophophore The lophophore () is a characteristic feeding organ possessed by four major groups of animals: the Brachiopoda, Bryozoa, Hyolitha, and Phoronida, which collectively constitute the protostome group Lophophorata.

Distribution and ecology

''Flustra foliacea'' has a wide

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

in the north

, on both the European and American sides. It is restricted to colder

sublittoral The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely in ...

waters, and reaches its southern limit in northern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The fronds of ''Flustra foliacea'' are often used by other animals as a substrate to live on. Such

epibiont An epibiont (from the Ancient Greek meaning "living on top of") is an organism that lives on the surface of another living organism, called the basibiont ("living underneath"). The interaction between the two organisms is called epibiosis. An ep ...

s include other bryozoa such as ''

Crista eburnea A crista (; : cristae) is a fold in the inner membrane of a mitochondrion. The name is from the Latin for ''crest'' or ''plume'', and it gives the inner membrane its characteristic wrinkled shape, providing a large amount of surface area for che ...

'',

hydroids Hydroids are a life stage for most animals of the class Hydrozoa, small predators related to jellyfish. Some hydroids such as the freshwater '' Hydra'' are solitary, with the polyp attached directly to the substrate. When these produce buds, ...

, sessile

polychaete worms Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are mad ...

and the

porcelain crab Porcelain crabs are decapod crustaceans in the widespread family Porcellanidae, which superficially resemble true crabs. They have flattened bodies as an adaptation for living in rock crevices. They are delicate, readily losing limbs when attacke ...

Pisidia longicornis ''Pisidia longicornis'', the long-clawed porcelain crab, is a species of porcelain crab that lives in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean. It varies from reddish to white, and grows to a carapace width of . It was first named by Carl Linnaeus in 17 ...

''. Other animals feed on ''F. foliacea'', including the

sea urchin Sea urchins or urchins () are echinoderms in the class (biology), class Echinoidea. About 950 species live on the seabed, inhabiting all oceans and depth zones from the intertidal zone to deep seas of . They typically have a globular body cove ...

s ''

Echinus esculentus ''Echinus esculentus'', the European edible sea urchin or common sea urchin, is a species of marine invertebrate in the Echinidae family. It is found in coastal areas of western Europe down to a depth of . It is considered "Near threatened" in th ...

'' and ''

Psammechinus miliaris ''Psammechinus miliaris'' is a species of sea urchin in the Family (biology), family Parechinidae. It is sometimes known as the green sea urchin or shore sea urchin. It is found in shallow areas of the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. D ...

'' and the

nudibranch Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs, belonging to the order Nudibranchia, that shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have b ...

'' Crimora papillata''; the

pycnogonid Sea spiders are marine arthropods of the class Pycnogonida, hence they are also called pycnogonids (; named after ''Pycnogonum'', the type genus; with the suffix '). The class includes the only now-living order Pantopoda ( ‘all feet’), alongs ...

'' Achelia echinata'' feeds preferentially on ''F. foliacea''.

Life cycle

''Flustra foliacea'' colonies only grow in spring and summer, which can result in visible annual

growth rings Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of chronological dating, dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed in a tree. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, ...

. Breeding occurs between separate male and female zooids within the colony in autumn and winter. The cells produce outgrowths known as ''ovicells'', which contain

embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...

s and are visible from October to February. The

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e are released in spring and, after a short period, settle to the substrate. For the first year, colonies grow only along the surface (encrusting), with loose fronds only being formed in subsequent years. These are produced when two encrusting colonies meet, and the two edges that make contact begin to grow upwards, back to back. The total lifespan of a colony may reach 12 years. It is frequently found washed up on

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

es after

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...

References

External links

* * * Also available a
Project Gutenberg
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2399981 Cheilostomatida Animals described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus