Hydroids have established several symbiotic relationships with bryozoans. The association with Bryozoa probably evolved independently within the Hydrozoa. In fact, three unrelated hydroid families, Lovenellidae, Cytaeididae and Pandeidae, have only one species each that is symbiotic with bryozoans, whereas the Zancleidae probably went through a wide radiation leading to specialized associations with the Bryozoa. The symbiosis with Hydrozoa is recorded in few bryozoan families: almost all zancleids are associated with species of the families Schizoporellidae, Phidoloporinidae and Lepraliellidae. Other families, extremely common both in tropical and temperate waters were never recorded in association with hydroids. The association between hydroids and bryozoans seems to require a high degree of specialization resulting in peculiar trophic strategies ranging from commensalism to parasitism and in morphological modifications as tentacle reduction and hydrorhiza covering by the bryozoan skeleton.
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