How do individual zooids form a bryozoan colony?

Bryozoan colonies are formed through the process of asexual budding, which originates from a single primary zooid known as the ancestrula or from a dormant bud called a statoblast. The ancestrula itself develops following the metamorphosis of a sexually produced larva.1

As the colony expands, new zooids are generated by budding from the parent zooid. The specific method of formation varies by group:21
* Gymnolaemates: Budding typically occurs as transverse septa form to partition parts of a parent zooid, with each new bud developing into a complete zooid containing a polypide.1
* Stenolaemates: The colony structure is built through repeated divisions of zooidal walls, with growth zones located at the outer edges.1

Once formed, these individual zooids remain in intimate contact, often interconnected by minute pores or cables in their body walls. These connections allow the colony to function as an integrated organism, facilitating the exchange of nutrients and, in some species, the coordination of behavioral responses.234