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Bryoliths (Bryozoa) in the Gulf of California
- Pacific Science
- University of Hawai'i Press
- Volume 60, Number 1, January 2006
- pp. 117-124
- 10.1353/psc.2005.0057
- Article
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Populations of Diaperoforma californica (d'Orbigny) bryoliths were discovered in rhodolith beds, a sand habitat, and on a cobble bottom in the Gulf of California, Mexico, the first known observation of a modern free-living cyclostome bryozoan in the Northern Hemisphere. Densities ranged from a mean of 9.2 to 22.6 individuals/0.06 m2. Bryoliths from the deepest site were irregularly shaped and had the highest variation in shape; those from shallow sites were spheroidal. Water motion and bioturbation move the bryoliths and may determine their morphology. Schizomavella robertsonae (Soule, Soule & Chaney) bryoliths also occurred occasionally in one rhodolith bed sampled. Fossilized bryolith specimens of the cyclostome Diaperoforma californica (d'Orbigny) were found in a Pleistocene deposit near modern habitats.