The bryozoan Uschakovia gorbunovi was initially characterized as a constituent member of benthic communities of the Kara and East-Siberian Seas. The academic literature reports this species in the Barents Sea, but without accurate information on sampling locations. Also, there are no previous records of this species in the northern Greenland Sea near Svalbard. Our analysis of benthic collections obtained during the past two decades revealed the occurrence of four distribution records of Uschakovia gorbunovi within the Barents and Greenland Sea specifying its distribution: one in the northwestern part of the area and three others in the waters surrounding Svalbard. The new distribution records may be related to inadequate sampling efforts or the expansion of this Arctic species into the Barents Sea, which may be due to either natural processes such as ocean currents, or introduction by mobile benthic species such as snow crabs.

Renewed interest in bryozoan assemblages from the various members of the Gulpen Formation (upper Campanian–upper Maastrichtian) in the Liège-Limburg area (southeast Netherlands and northeast Belgium) during recent years has resulted in the discovery of a number of species previously unrecorded from the area. Nineteen species are here recorded from the Zeven Wegen, Vijlen, Lixhe and Lanaye members (Gulpen Formation) in the study area, occurring in three distinct assemblages. The vast majority of the bryozoan taxa belong to the order Cheilostomata; only two taxa are assigned to the order Cyclostomata. The species recorded here are Clinopora aff. costulata, Disporella obvallata, ‘Vincularia’ (sensu lato) marssoniana, Herpetopora laxata, Heteroconopeum ovatum, Wilbertopora aff. oxyteichos, Biaviculigera sacerdotalis, Semiflustrella britannica, Aechmellina anglica, Escharifora papyracea, Onychocella cyclostoma, Onychocella cylindrica, Onychocella matrona, Rhebasia disparilis, Stichomicropora sicksi, Coscinopleura elegans, Coscinopleura lamourouxi, Pachydermopora pachyderma and Beisselina aviculifera. While not previously recorded from the Liège-Limburg area, the bryozoan taxa identified from the Gulpen Formation are well known from coeval Cretaceous strata elsewhere in Europe, North America and Russia, highlighting their broad palaeobiogeographical distribution.

The intertidal coastline of Ceredigion, Wales, comprises a patchwork of unstable sand and cobble beaches, and stable bedrock areas and boulder-fields. The last two shoreline types support rock-pools with growths of the red alga Corallina officinalis, the thalli of which are a popular substrate for calcareous epiphytes. Replicate samples of C. officinalis (four per site) were taken from (a) three bedrock sites (Ceinewydd, Aberystwyth Victoria Rocks and Castle Rocks) and (b) three boulder-fields (Llanon, Aberaeron lower shore (Aberaeron LS), Llanina) on the lower shore. The middle shore boulder field at Aberaeron (Aberaeron MS) was also sampled. These replicates were examined for calcareous meiofauna (63–2000 μm) not previously examined as a community: spirorbids, foraminifera, gastropods, bryozoans, ostracods and ophiuroids. These were assigned to sessile and vagile modes of life. The sessile association overwhelmingly dominated bedrock coastlines and the Aberaeron MS, while the vagile association was at its most abundant on the Corallina from lower shore, stable boulder-fields. Gastropods were almost entirely limited to Corallina on boulder-fields. We hypothesize that the boulders induce low-energy turbulence among breaking waves, allowing the less firmly attached vagile meiofauna to dominate on C. officinalis in rock-pools in lower shore boulder-fields. The small attachment area of sessile organisms allows them to settle bedrock sites in greater densities than do vagile organisms at boulder-field sites, which are presumed to require larger foraging areas.

The long-lived (about 20 yr) bryozoan Adeonellopsis sp. from Doubtful Sound, New Zealand, precipitates aragonite in isotopic equilibrium with seawater, exerting no metabolic or kinetic effects. Oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) in 61 subsamples (along three branches of a single unaltered colony) range from −0.09 to +0.68‰ PDB (mean = +0.36‰ PDB). Carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) range from +0.84 to +2.18‰ PDB (mean = +1.69‰ PDB). Typical of cool-water carbonates, δ18O-derived water temperatures range from 14.2 to 17.5 °C. Adeonellopsis has a minimum temperature growth threshold of 14 °C, recording only a partial record of environmental variation. By correlating seawater temperatures derived from δ18O with the Southern Oscillation Index, however, we were able to detect major events such as the 1983 El Niño. Interannual climatic variation can be recorded in skeletal carbonate isotopes. The range of within-colony isotopic variability found in this study (0.77‰ in δ18O and 1.34 in δ13C) means that among-colony variation must be treated cautiously. Temperate bryozoan isotopes have been tested in less than 2% of described extant species — this highly variable phylum is not yet fully understood.

Diverse, abundant and usually well-preserved communities of skeletal organisms occur in the lower Pleistocene (Gelasian) siliciclastic deposits of the Greek island of Rhodes. Benthic foraminifers, molluscs and bryozoans have been studied in four measured and sampled sections located in the northern part of the island. Among these bottom-dwelling organisms, numerous extant taxa are good environmental indicators and, combined with field observations and sedimentological data, they provide information on the probable conditions in which they developed. The siliciclastic deposits of the Kritika Formation have been divided into 14 different bio- and lithofacies, which have been further grouped into four facies associations corresponding to four different environmental settings: (1) continental to fluviatile; (2) brackish-water (lagoonal/deltaic); (3) infralittoral (0–20 m); and (4) upper circalittoral (depths of 20–40 m, but also down to c. 50–60 m). Among the marine facies associations, several characteristic biocoenoses have been recognized: soft-bottoms (fine to coarse sands and gravels); seagrass meadows; biogenic calcareous crusts on drowned beachrock slabs; red algal rhodoliths; and bivalve shell beds. In the studied sections, 13 superimposed genetic sequences have been documented. The repetition of similar facies associations within each sequence suggests: (1) a possibly eustasy-controlled, cyclic sedimentation; (2) a general subsidence of Rhodes during the deposition of the studied facies associations; and (3) a mostly constant range of environmental conditions (i.e. sedimentation rates and temperature) throughout the Gelasian.

Found at four sites in the coastal waters of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, an encrusting cheilostomatous bryozoan unknown from Europe was identified by microscopical and scanning electron microscope studies as Schizobrachiella verrilli (Cheilostomata, Schizoporellidae). Until now, it was only known from the Atlantic coast of North America. Historic data confirms the existence of S. verrilli in the North Sea since 1905 and the few recent findings suggest that S. verrilli is a rare species living at refugial sites such as the sublittoral shell banks of the North Sea.

Fifteen new genera of cheilostome Bryozoa are described from the New Zealand biogeographical region, centred on Zealandia, between 29° and 59°S latitude from shallow coastal waters to abyssal depths. The new genera are: Cavelliella, Mangana, Recapitulator (Calloporidae), Microblestrum, Stolomicropora (Pyrisinellidae), Otomicropora, Rosemariella (Microporidae), Bioptica, Caesiopora (Romancheinidae), Cheilonellopsis (Lacernidae), Xenogma (Buffonellodidae), Bountyella (incertae sedis), Taylorius (Escharinidae), Fovoporella (Schizoporellidae) and Ramicellepora (Celleporidae). Several new combinations are also recognized, i.e. Corbulella fossa, Fovoporella spectabilis, Kenaplousina canariensis, Taylorius incognitus, Taylorius masoni, Taylorius waiparaensis and Xenogma rhomboidale. Ten of the new genera are nominally endemic to the New Zealand exclusive economic zone. Recapitulator and Microblestrum (on seamounts near the southern part of the Hjort Trench) and Rosemariella (seamount in the Louisville Ridge) occur in extraterritorial waters, Xenogma extends to Australia and Taylorius extends to South Africa. Taylorius is also known from the Miocene and Fovoporella from the Pliocene. Recapitulator and Mangana have plesiomorphies that are novel among Recent Calloporidae (respectively a costate ooecium and ‘pelmatoporine’ elongate adventitious interzooidal kenozooids) but which are found in some Cretaceous calloporids or cribrilinids.

The bryozoan Schizoporella errata was found in the waters of the island of São Miguel (Azores, Portugal) in August 2013. Its occurrence in the Ponta Delgada Marina suggested that it had been newly introduced into the area, probably via maritime traffic, owing to the fouling proclivity of these cheilostome colonies. It may be expected that S. errata will disperse throughout the Azores Archipelago, being transported by recreational boating as a fouling component of hulls. Measures to minimize a rapid spread of the species should be addressed and the effects of its presence on the native community studied.

The freshwater bryozoan, Fredericella sultana, is the main primary host of the myxozoan endoparasite, Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae which causes proliferative kidney disease (PKD) of salmonid fish. Because spores that develop in bryozoan colonies are infectious to fish, bryozoans represent the ultimate source of PKD. Bryozoans produce numerous seed-like dormant stages called statoblasts that enable persistence during unfavourable conditions and achieve long-distance dispersal. The possibility that T. bryosalmonae may undergo vertical transmission via infection of statoblasts has been the subject of much speculation since this is observed in close relatives. This study provides the first evidence that such vertical transmission of T. bryosalmonae is extensive by examining the proportions of infected statoblasts in populations of F. sultana on two different rivers systems and confirms its effectiveness by demonstrating transmission from material derived from infected statoblasts to fish hosts. Vertical transmission in statoblasts is likely to play an important role in the infection dynamics of both bryozoan and fish hosts and may substantially contribute to the widespread distribution of PKD.

Changes in host phenotype are often attributed to manipulation that enables parasites to complete trophic transmission cycles. We characterized changes in host phenotype in a colonial host–endoparasite system that lacks trophic transmission (the freshwater bryozoan Fredericella sultana and myxozoan parasite Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae). We show that parasitism exerts opposing phenotypic effects at the colony and module levels. Thus, overt infection (the development of infectious spores in the host body cavity) was linked to a reduction in colony size and growth rate, while colony modules exhibited a form of gigantism. Larger modules may support larger parasite sacs and increase metabolite availability to the parasite. Host metabolic rates were lower in overtly infected relative to uninfected hosts that were not investing in propagule production. This suggests a role for direct resource competition and active parasite manipulation (castration) in driving the expression of the infected phenotype. The malformed offspring (statoblasts) of infected colonies had greatly reduced hatching success. Coupled with the severe reduction in statoblast production this suggests that vertical transmission is rare in overtly infected modules. We show that although the parasite can occasionally infect statoblasts during overt infections, no infections were detected in the surviving mature offspring, suggesting that during overt infections, horizontal transmission incurs a trade-off with vertical transmission.

Trepostome bryozoan Dianulites borealis Astrova, 1965, the earliest known member of this genus, has been identified from the Early Ordovician of Severnaya Zemlya, Arctic Russia. This species developed hemispherical colonies which indicate that it lived on a relatively soft substrate with moderately low rates of sedimentation and erosion. The new record from Severnaya Zemlya expands the palaeogeographical distribution of Dianulites, known before from the Early Ordovician of Novaya Zemlya, Arctic Russia.

Recent studies of the large cheilostome bryozoan genus Scrupocellaria have shown a greater degree of taxonomically informative morphological variation in zooids, opesia, and polymorphic structures than previously recognized. Only one subgenus has been named within the genus, Retiscrupocellaria d'Hondt, 1988, erected for Scrupocellaria jolloisii. In this work we further analyse S. jolloisii and its related species, resurrecting an earlier genus name, Licornia van Beneden, 1850 for Licornia jolloisii, and nine relatives, L. annectens, L. cervicornis, L. cyclostoma, L. diadema, L. ferox, L. gaspari, L. longispinosa, L. macropora, and L. prolata. Licornia jolloisii was originally described from the Red Sea, and most species of the genus occur in the Indo-Pacific region. The species, however, has now been found in the Western Atlantic, in the Florida Keys, US, and in Bahia de Todos Santos, Brazil.

Sponges (phylum Porifera) are important components of the benthic marine fauna known for their interactions with vertebrates and a large number of invertebrates seeking for food, shelter or substrate for attachment. Studies on this subject, however, were restricted only to the macrofauna inhabiting sponges of the class Demospongiae. In the present work, we describe the macrofauna associated with a calcareous sponge in Brazil, Paraleucilla magna. Individuals of this allegedly non-native species were monthly collected during one year in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Fifty-one taxa representing ten animal phyla were found associated with P. magna. The most frequent and abundant taxa were Crustacea, Mollusca, Polychaeta and Bryozoa, while echinoderms, cnidarians, ascidians, nemerteans, platyhelminthes and sponges were less frequent or even rare and less abundant. Juveniles of several taxa and pregnant females of Crustacea were found associated with P. magna, but these associations were not exclusive. The macrofauna associated with P. magna did not present a clear seasonality, although it was possible to observe a change in the community composition alongside the year. The volume of the sponges was significantly related to the diversity index (H′) and number of taxa, but not with evenness (J′) and number of individuals. Our results show that P. magna is used as a substrate for attachment and/or shelter by its associates and that most of these associations are just opportunistic. The data presented here reiterate a previous proposal that sponges are important biodiversity reservoirs and that they should be seriously considered in conservation programmes.

This is the first report about the arrival of the encrusting cheilostomatid bryozoan Watersipora subtorquata on floating seaweeds in German coastal waters of the North Sea. During summer 2012, drifting or stranded thalli of the non-indigenous brown macroalga Himanthalia elongata were investigated on the island of Helgoland showing numerous benthic species covering the holdfast of Himanthalia. Out of the 120 basal structures investigated, 8.3% had viable colonies of the invasive, non-native W. subtorquata attached to them. Himanthalia and W. subtorquata have both their nearest origin reported to be in the English Channel (La Manche), approximately 800 km away from Helgoland. Now we found W. subtorquata as a rafting species in the eastern part of the North Sea, showing its ability to distribute easily over very large distances using floating algae as a natural transport vector. This event might constitute the first step in the potential introduction of this alien species into German coastal waters.

Bryozoans are common fouling species present on ships and artificial substrates. A number of projects reporting the presence of bryozoans in Portugal have been carried out in recent years. As part of a field survey to examine and quantify the non-indigenous marine fouling species in several marinas in Portugal, we detected the bryozoan Celleporaria brunnea for the first time. The native range of C. brunnea seems to extend from British Columbia to the Galapagos, Ecuador. Our discovery indicates that this is the first record of C. brunnea across the East Atlantic and the first record of a species in this genus in the north-eastern Atlantic. The fouling nature of Celleporaria brunnea may have facilitated its spread to the western Pacific, the Mediterranean and now the eastern Atlantic from the Americas.

In summer 2010, a systematic survey was carried out in the harbours of La Spezia (Ligurian Sea) and Olbia (western Tyrrhenian Sea) with the aim of studying alien species in Italian commercial harbours. Biological samples were collected by replicate scraping on the concrete walls of docks at the beginning and at the end of the summer season. Identification to species level revealed the presence of Tricellaria inopinata, an invasive alien cheilostome bryozoan of Pacific origin, first introduced to Europe in the Lagoon of Venice (Italy) in 1982. Thereafter it has been reported in other ports in Britain, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Tunisia, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Massachusetts (USA). Its finding in the harbours of La Spezia and Olbia represents the first record of the species in the Ligurian Sea and in the western-central Tyrrhenian Sea, respectively. Commercial harbours are common sites of biotic invasions due to the presence of the most important vectors of alien species introduction, namely aquaculture, and shipping. The occurrence of T. inopinata in the harbours of La Spezia and Olbia is discussed, taking into consideration possible pathways of introduction into the western Mediterranean Sea, which very likely is the transfer of molluscs from the northern Adriatic (namely the Lagoon of Venice).

Cauloramphus spinifer, a cheilostome bryozoan, was found in samples from the Humber Regional Environmental Characterization survey in the North Sea. These records, at a maximum depth of 53.1 m, significantly increase the known depth-range for this species.

Knowledge of bryozoan larval types is limited to a relatively small number of species. Further information is needed to establish traits of evolutionary significance and thus advance bryozoan taxonomy. Morphological classification of bryozoan larvae has previously focused on electron microscopy, epi-fluorescence microscopy and lightfield microscopy methods. These are either relatively time consuming and require fixed material, or they fail to reveal surface features of larvae. A method is presented here, based on confocal laser scanning microscopy, which allows in vivo 3-D imaging of larvae. The method could also be used for imaging other marine invertebrate larvae of comparable size.

To address whether a fish host is involved in the life cycles of malacosporeans of the genus Buddenbrockia, cohabitation experiments with different bryozoan and fish species were conducted. Samples were analysed by malacosporean-specific PCR, partial sequencing of the 18S rDNA, and light and electron microscopy. Co-habitation challenges with bryozoans resulted in malacosporean infections detected mainly in the kidney of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus). Sequences of the minnow parasite and of worm-like Buddenbrockia stages in Plumatella repens were identical and showed 99·5% similarity to Buddenbrockia plumatellae and 96·3% similarity to the sequence obtained from carp. One sample, comprising 4–5 zooids of statoblast-raised bryozoans cohabitated with infected carp was PCR-positive, but no overt infection could be observed in the remaining colony. Light and electron-microscopy of kidney samples of infected minnows revealed single cells within kidney tubules, whereas in carp, sporogonic stages were found in kidney tubules. Phylogenetic analysis of the Buddenbrockia spp. known to date placed the carp-infecting species at the base of the B. plumatellae clade, but low posterior probability makes this node questionable. The present study showed that Buddenbrockia spp. were able to infect cyprinid fish, showing stages in kidney-tubules strikingly similar to those of T. bryosalmonae.