Bryozoan fossils are the remains of bryozoans, which are small aquatic animals that belong to the phylum Bryozoa. They are also known as “moss animals” because they often form colonies that resemble mats of moss. Bryozoans are colonial organisms, meaning that they are made up of many individual animals living together in a group.
Each individual, called a zooid, is specialized for a particular function within the colony, such as feeding, reproduction, or defense. Bryozoans are found in a variety of marine environments, and they can form colonies that are either attached to a substrate or free-floating.
They are often found in fossilized form, and their fossils are useful for studying the evolution of marine life and the history of the earth’s oceans.