Schizobrachiella sanguinea is an encrusting bryozoan that forms broad colonies, often only partly attached to the substrate and developing erect, folded lobes or plates. Colonies are composed of a single or multiple layers of autozooids and appear deep red when living but brown when dried. Autozooids are rectangular or irregularly polygonal and are arranged in a regular radiating series.
Schizobrachiella sanguinea is essentially a warm temperate species, that is widely distributed in the western Mediterranean. It reaches its northern limit in Britain, where is has been recorded from the western approaches to the English Channel, around the Channel Islands and rarely off the south coast of Cornwall.
The species is able to colonise hard substrates, especially organic carbonates such as shells, polychaete tubes and other bryozoans. It is only found in subtidal waters from 10 m down to at least 50 m.