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Statoblast
(redirected from statoblasts)

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statoblast [′stad·ə‚blast]
(invertebrate zoology)
A chitin-encapsulated body which serves as a special means of asexual reproduction in the Phylactolaemata.

Statoblast 

a dormant winter bud in freshwater bryozoans. Statoblasts develop within the mesogastrium and are internal buds (in contrast to external buds from which colonies are formed). They have a tough outer coat, sometimes with hooklike excrescences, and most commonly are lenticular in shape. When the maternal organism dies in the autumn, statoblasts drop from its body and, owing to the presence of air chambers, float in the water. The coat of the statoblast bursts open in the spring, and from it emerges a young bryozoan, the progenitor of a new colony.



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Similarly, bryozoan identification typically requires the inspection of statoblasts in addition to the vegetative colony, and both were collected when possible.
 
 
 
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