- Bugula
Taxobox
name = Bugula
regnum =Animal ia
phylum =Bryozoa
classis =Gymnolaemata
ordo =Cheilostomata
suborder =Flustrina
familia =Bugulidae
genus = "Bugula "
binomial = "Bugula sp."Cite web|url=http://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bugulidae|title=Bugulidae-wikispecies|accessdate=2007-02-17|publisher=Wikispecies]
binomial_authority = (Oken , 1815)Spiral tufted bryozoa or "Bugula turrita" are a very common colonial marine animal found from
Maine toNorth Carolina .Cite web|url=http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1881652327&id=dq-iIBVn4_MC&dq=spiral+tufted+bryozoa|title=Marine Life of the North Atlantic: Canada to New England |accessdate=2007-02-17|publisher=Aqua Quest Publications|year=2003|author=Andrew J. Martinez]
"Bugula neritina" is of current interest as a source of cytotoxic chemicals, bryostatins, under clinical investigation as anti-cancer agents.Cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryozoa#Anatomy|title=Bryozoa-Wikipedia|accessdate=2007-02-17]
Dried "Bugula" are commonly used as decorations:
"Air fern", the so-called everlasting plant that supposedly absorbs from air all the moisture it needs to live, is commonly dried colonies of the bryozoan "Bugula" that have been artificially coloured.Cite web|url=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/iba/pages/bryozoa.html|title=The Bryozoa|accessdate=2007-02-17|publisher=International Bryozoology Association|author=Frank K. McKinney]
However, note that "
Sertularia argentea " are also sold as "air ferns."Cite web|url=http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/index.html|title=Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland - Cnidaria|accessdate=2007-02-19|publisher=habitas.org.uk]Notes
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