COP Organisms - Under construction

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These organisms can occur in both freshwater and saltwater. They reproduce both sexually and asexually. Asexual reproduction allows the colony to expand in an attempt to colonise an area whilst sexual reproduction produces larva that is released into the plankton where they drift with the currents before settling onto firm substrates such as rocks, macrophytes and wharf legs. Once settled the Bryozoa obtain calcium and carbonate ions from the surrounding seawater and lay down a protective "cell" constructed from calcium carbonate. The individual bryozoan, known as a zooid, proceeds to feed, respire and reproduce. Evidence of healthy colonies of encrusting bryozoa would suggest that the area provides all of the resources required.

Branching Bryozoan Colonies produce a supported  colony that stands upright in the water. This organism commonly gets mistaken for macroalgae but upon closer inspection the 'serrated' edges of the branches are clearly visible. Each serration contains an individual zooid that feeds in the same manner of the encrusting Bryozoans by the use of a lophophore. The branches are predominately made from calcium carbonate. The colours of these colonies in south east Queensland waters are usually opaque or dark red.

These polychaete worms secrete a hard calcareous tube-like shell within which they reside for protection. The calcium carbonate tube is attached to hard substrates such as rocks, stones and wharf legs or sometimes attaching to macroalgae or seagrasses. The worm is a filter feeder that feeds on microorganisms and detritus. It can only feed when it extends the fragile, feathery, flower-like crown out of the calcareous tube. Each lobe of the crown consists of a number of ciliated radioles that filter food particles out of the water, passing them down to the mouth, and that contribute to respiration.

Most calcareous worms modify a single radiole into a peduncle topped by an enlarged operculum, a plug with a chitinous or calcareous endplate, that stoppers the tube opening when withdrawn.

Radiolar Eyes of Serpulid Worms (Annelida, Serpulidae): Structures, Function, and Phototransduction MICHAEL J. BOK etal (2017).

Barnacles are crustaceans that settle out of the meroplankton on to hard substrates such as rocks, seawalls, wharf legs and boat hulls. They belong to a subclass of crustaceans known as Cirripedia. in their early planktonic form, the Cirripedia are very similar in appearance and movement to crab larvae. 

When the barnacle larvae touches hard substrate it can detect if calcium carbonate is present on the surface. If present, the barnacle will 'glue' its head to the surface and build its shell plates around itself by absorbing Calcium ions and Carbonate ions from the surrounding water.

When mature the barnacle filter feeds by opening the 'doors' of its operculum and rhythmically moving their cirri (legs) through the water to obtain their food.

Tunicates, or sea squirts, are marine invertebrates that are soft and slimy to the touch. They are most closely related animals to us in the bunch, being a distant part of the Chordata family. Tunicates still have “notochords” and are sometimes called Urochordata (SERC)

Individual tunicates come in various forms they can be large or small, opaque or covered in sediment. They exhibit two siphons through which water is pulled in (inhalant siphon) and pushed out (exhalant siphon). This process allows the tunicate to filter the water that passes through 

SERC - Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Colonial Tunicates are comprised of small individual tunicate zooids that form interconnected colonies. The individual zooids are sometimes arranged into patterns that may resemble stars or daisies. Each individual zooid can be seen to possess an inhalant siphon like their individual tunicate cousins. The exhalant siphons of the zooids are not always clearly visible because their waste is excreted into a shared area known as a cloaca prior to excretion from the colony.

Jingle Clam is a common name given to a group of bivalve molluscs in the family Anomiidae. Other common names include Mermaid's Toenails and Saddle Oysters. These bivalve molluscs feed in a similar way to the Oyster and the Razor Clam. Their gills (or ctenidia) are coated in a sticky mucous which captures plankton and detritus when water is drawn in through the inhalant siphon and over the gills.

Species of Oyster are many and varied within the Gold Coast's Broadwater system.

Otter's Shell

Aeolid Nudibranch

Sponge

Mulberry Whelk