Greetings all!
I'm not sure if file attachments will work here, but I'm at my wit's end on an invertebrate that I can't identify. I thought it was a bryozoan of some sort, or possibly a sponge, but haven't found anything that resembles the texture/pores/markings/? on this. Ironically I'm giving a short presentation on the unique difficulties posed by convergent structures in identifying rocky intertidal organisms. (to begin with, just figuring out if it is the proverbial animal or vegetable! *laugh*) So I went to the coast to take some pictures for demonstration.
I found this guy at a moderately negative tide at Seal Rock, near Newport, Oregon. It was on the protected side of a rock in the low intertidal zone. You can see there is encrusting algae and purple encrusting sponge Haliclona ecbasis, in addition to some other encrusting animals including tube worms. Unfortunately this is the only picture I have. I've tried searching photos of encrusting bryozoans, hydroids, sponges, tunicates. I am not an expert, just a volunteer naturalist who's starting to lose it a bit. :)
Thanks for any help you can offer!
Cindy in Portland, Oregon
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