Bryozoans and Lophophorates

This subcategory groups small, filter feeding invertebrate phyla that share a feeding structure called a lophophore, a crown of ciliated tentacles used to sweep food particles toward the mouth. Bryozoans (Bryozoa) form encrusting or branching colonies of tiny connected individuals called zooids, common on rocks, shells, and submerged wood in both fresh and salt water. Brachiopods (Brachiopoda) look like clams from the outside but are unrelated to mollusks, enclosing their body in two unequal hinged shells rather than the two matching shells of a bivalve. Phoronids and entoprocts round out the group, living as tube dwelling or stalked filter feeders on the seafloor.