Bryozoology

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The branch of zoology concerned with the study of bryozoans, small colonial aquatic invertebrates that form moss-like or lacy encrusting colonies
2. The scientific discipline devoted to examining bryozoans, the tiny filter-feeding animals that live in colonies on the seafloor and in freshwater
3. Zoological study focused on bryozoans, a group of microscopic colonial organisms whose structure, classification and ecology are investigated by specialists

Etymology: Bryozoology is a plain compound, built from "bryo-" and "zoology," and its parts explain themselves. The first element comes from Greek "bryon," meaning moss, a word that is also the source of "bryophyte," the name for mosses and their relatives. The second comes from "zoology," the study of animals. Put together, the name describes the study of animals that look like moss. Those animals are the bryozoans, sometimes called moss animals, which is why the name fits. Each one is tiny, and many live together in colonies that spread over rocks, seaweed and shells in the form of delicate, lace-like or fuzzy crusts. Individual members are so small that a colony can look like a plant to the untrained eye, and this resemblance is what gave the group its name.