When scientists noticed what appeared to be brown golf balls floating in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, they thought they were worth a closer look. They were found to be the first free-swimming bryozoan colonies ever recorded. Based on articles and illustrations provided by Lloyd Peck of the British Antarctic Survey and the Natural Environment Research Council.
Bryozoans are colonial microscopic animals that occur in both freshwater and seawater.
They are often known as moss animals. Members of the group form colonies of varying size and shape and grow on other objects such as rocks, seaweed or ship hulls. The texture of a colony varies from either being soft and gelatinous, or tufted with leaf-like fronds or forming hard calcified skeletons like a coral. The colonies are formed of individual zooids, each of which is a complete organism. Most zooids have ciliated tentacles that propel food particles to the simple mouth of the animal.