Escharella ventricosa
Escharella ventricosa is an encrusting bryozoan. Colonies form greyish-white, often silvery and glistening broad sheets which are composed of a single layer of autozooids. Autozooids are oval to hexagonal and strongly convex. They range in size from 0.55-0.7 mm by 0.45-0.55 mm, with four stout spines present.
Escharella ventricosa is distributed from the western Mediterranean to Shetland, Faroe and western Norway. In the British Isles, the species is widespread and abundant.
The species is able to colonise stones, shells, calcified bryozoans and occasionally kelp holdfasts in subtidal offshore waters down to 450 m.