The Marine Life Information Network

Cellepora pumicosa is an orange, encrusting bryozoan that begins as patches of orange and then develops into nodules or small mounds. The colonies often exceed 2 cm in diameter and form strong thick multiple-layered (multilaminar) cylinders around erect substratum such as other bryozoans. The individual zooids lie flat and curve convexly upwards into a hexagonal to oval shape that is commonly 0.5 to 0.7 mm by 0.3 to 0.5 mm in size, with distinct boundaries between zooids marked by shallow grooves. Surrounding the oval-shaped opening (orifice) there is a raised rim that extends to form an erect tube (peristome), from which the avicularium (a specialized zooid) extends and gives the colony a spikey appearance. There are no oral spines in this species.  The well-developed colonies have a distinctive knobby appearance with little of the frontal shield visible, due to the arrangement of the erect zooids. The brood chamber (ovicell) is spherical in shape and comes out above the thinly calcified peristome rim. It has four to six variably sized pores close to the opening in the frontal wall (aperture). The embryos are red and present all year round but are most common in the late summer.