Omalosecosa ramulosa

David Kipling Erect branching bryozoan, 25m deep off Falmouth, tideswept reef. Omalosecosa ramulosa or Palmiskenea skenei?

Keith Hiscock I would have recorded without further thought Omalosecosa - but do correct me if I am being too 'knee-jerk'.

David Kipling That was my reaction too, but then I saw a picture Kerry Lewis posted ...

Nick Owen Omalosecosa ramulosa. Beautiful big specimens. How long do the colonies persist? There are some nice big ones on the W2R Project boulder reef off Ringstead that can only be a year old. The biggest of the ones off Falmouth were maybe twice the size. What's overgrowing the one in the background?

Kerry Lewis What = big here? Mine was about the size of a 10p piece.

David Kipling You can get a sense of scale (I think) by looking at the lophophores ... I think these should be a standard/fixed size, with the colony growing by increasing the number of them. I'm rubbish at sizing UW, I'll let Nick comment as to how big the big colonies were!

Nick Owen Bit bigger than a 10p piece - the proper ones that replaced florins in 1969, not these wee ones we use now. Yes, good point about lophophores as scalars, David, The alternative is to make up a scale and cart it about, deploying it in pics as needed. Heh. The ones we see in Dorset are about the size of the new 10p.

Nick Owen PS Simnias everywhere on the dive including bigger ones with red stripes on Eunicella. Thought of you, Keith.

George Brown Certainly don't want to contradict Nick but the branches don't look skinny enough to be Omalosecosa. Local variation?

Jeremy Pierce Another picture from the sea bed about 10m away from the Elk wreck at 30m depth an array of Hydroids, a Fan worm Tube, Pink sea fan and the orange fury thing!!! Any ideas.....please! :-)

George Brown The orange furry thing is actually an orange crunchy thing. It looks like the bryozoan Omalosecosa ramulosa.

Jeremy Pierce Thank you George, fury came to mind as it's not a very clear pic!! :-)

David Kipling Lovely big specimen too, furry with a crunchy centre :). Sometimes called monkey puzzle bryozoan.

Jeremy Pierce Just noticed my spelling mistake!!! Luckily you both realised I didn't mean a violent angry thing!!!!

Keith Hiscock The scientific name is much more fun: Omalosecosa ramulosa.

Joanne Porter The thing that makes it look furry is called an avicularium :)

Bernard Picton The hydroid is Sertularella gayi, nice even well-spaced branching, size...

Jeremy Pierce The Sea fan was about 30cm tall so that should size all the others......:-)

David Kipling Erect branching bryozoan, 25m deep off Falmouth, tideswept reef. Omalosecosa ramulosa or Palmiskenea skenei?

Keith Hiscock I would have recorded without further thought Omalosecosa - but do correct me if I am being too 'knee-jerk'.

David Kipling That was my reaction too, but then I saw a picture Kerry Lewis posted ...

Nick Owen Omalosecosa ramulosa. Beautiful big specimens. How long do the colonies persist? There are some nice big ones on the W2R Project boulder reef off Ringstead that can only be a year old. The biggest of the ones off Falmouth were maybe twice the size. What's overgrowing the one in the background?

Kerry Lewis What = big here? Mine was about the size of a 10p piece.

David Kipling You can get a sense of scale (I think) by looking at the lophophores ... I think these should be a standard/fixed size, with the colony growing by increasing the number of them. I'm rubbish at sizing UW, I'll let Nick comment as to how big the big colonies were!

Nick Owen Bit bigger than a 10p piece - the proper ones that replaced florins in 1969, not these wee ones we use now. Yes, good point about lophophores as scalars, David, The alternative is to make up a scale and cart it about, deploying it in pics as needed. Heh. The ones we see in Dorset are about the size of the new 10p.

Nick Owen PS Simnias everywhere on the dive including bigger ones with red stripes on Eunicella. Thought of you, Keith.

George Brown Certainly don't want to contradict Nick but the branches don't look skinny enough to be Omalosecosa. Local variation?

Richard Yorke D. fulgens (I hope) off Llyn Peninsula last weekend

David Kipling Yah! Certainly looks like it. Unlike Lissoclinum the inhalant openings aren't randomly scattered, you see areas where they seem to be in a line, and also lighter-coloured empty areas leading off from some of the cloacal cavities (almost like a sponge's water channel). I'll let Anne Bay-Nouailhat have the last word but I'd agree with you. Most northerly UK record ;)

David Kipling (next job: what's the squirt to the right bottom and can you do the little branching bryozoan just above it?!?)

Richard Yorke I would think Aplidium nordmanni and Omalosecosa ramulosa

David Kipling Could it be Exidmonea atlantica? The two look a bit similar (see some pics on the bryozoan group).

Richard Yorke I think it is too big for that and there was plenty of Omalosecosa ramulosa around. That bit of this picture is too fuzzy when zoomed in on to be 100% sure though.

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat Very nice D. fulgens