This sensitivity to cold water temperatures may help to explain the fluctuating abundance pattern in this species. By twisting the ends of its tentacles together to form a cage of sorts, B. neritina is able to filter out active ciliates and other protists. B. neritina , like all bryozoans, is a suspension feeder . Seagrasses as well as floating macroalgae , provide support for bryozoan colonies. In turn, bryozoans provide habitat for many species of juvenile fishes and their invertebrate prey such as polychaete worms, amphipods and copepods.
Bryozoans are ecologically important in the Indian River Lagoon due to their feeding method.
As suspension feeders, they act as living filters in the marine environment.