Celleporina pygmaea

Celleporina pygmaea is a small encrusting bryozoan that forms white colonies. The species is thickly calcified and develops rounded or lobed patches, rarely exceeding 3-4 mm in diameter. Autozooids are small, oval and convex. They are 0.3-04 by approximately 0.2 mm.

Celleporina pygmaea is a rarely recorded species that is known from the Faroe Isles, Shetland and western Norway.

The species is able to colonise stones, shells and the cold-water coral Lophelia, reaching its greatest frequency on small pebbles. It occurs in subtidal water deeper than 50 m.

This species is easily confused with Lagenipora lepralioides, which is distinguished from Celleporina pygmaea by its noticeably nodular calcification.