The Catenicellidae are a group of ascophora

Ascophora

Ascophora is a infraorder under order Cheilostomata of the Bryozoa. Ascophorans are distinguished from other cheilostomes in having a completely calcified wall covering their frontal surface apart from the orifice, and possessing an ascus . The ascus is a water-filled sac of frontal membrane...

n bryozoa

Bryozoa

The Bryozoa, also known as Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals, are a phylum of aquatic invertebrate animals. Typically about long, they are filter feeders that sieve food particles out of the water using a retractable lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles lined with cilia...

ns, making up the namesake family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 of the superfamily

Taxonomic rank

In biological classification, rank is the level in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, and class. Each rank subsumes under it a number of less general categories...

 Catenicelloidea. These animals are characterized by branching colonies, which are flexible due to soft joints between nodes consisting of single or a few zooid

Zooid

A zooid or zoöid is a single animal that is part of a colonial animal. The zooids can either be directly connected by tissue or share a common exoskeleton...

s. The colony is attached by soft rootlets (rhizoids) to the substrate, which can be rock, sea grasses, or even other bryozoans. These characters give colonies a bushy appearance, and they are therefore often confused with sea weed.