Beania magellanica
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| Beania magellanica | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Bryozoa |
| Class: | Gymnolaemata |
| Order: | Cheilostomatida |
| Family: | Beaniidae |
| Genus: | Beania |
| Species: | B. magellanica |
| Binomial name | |
| Beania magellanica | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Beania magellanica is a species of colonial bryozoan in the family Beaniidae. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring in shallow waters in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and in Antarctica.[1]
This species was first described in 1852 from the Strait of Magellan, Chile, by the British naval surgeon and zoologist George Busk who gave it the name Diachoris magellanica. It was later transferred to the genus Beania, becoming Beania magellanica. Studies of specimens from several parts of its very wide range indicate that it is a species complex; new species Beania serrata from the northeast Atlantic and Beania mediterranea from the Mediterranean Sea have been described and further study is needed in other parts of its range.[2]
Description
Beania magellanica is an encrusting colonial bryozoan forming multiple, roughly circular, blades, each a few centimetres in diameter. These are held a few millimetres above the substrate, being loosely attached by fine chitinous filaments. The blades are yellowish-brown and often have turned up margins; they may overlap, or even form vertical structures on occasion. The blades are formed from a single layer of zooids, each one linked to six others, giving an appearance similar to wire mesh. The individual zooids have a cylindrical body with a chitinous exoskeleton bearing a lophophore, a crown of tentacles. The lophophores all project on the same side of the blade, usually the top, and are large enough to be seen with the naked eye.[3]