[3][4] Colonies grow on slow-moving, submerged objects, plants, and animals in nearshore saltwater environments.

B. schlosseri zooids emanate from a center in the manner of the arms of a star.

Under typical culture conditions, asexual reproduction occurs on an approximately two week cycle, during which a new bud will grow and begin to actively feed, while the adult it emerged from regresses and is eventually re-absorbed.

[8][9] When sexually productive, these Botryllus are known to produce,"yellowish-white or pale orange tadpole larva" exhibiting an oval outline.

[11][12][13] B. schlosseri is a sequential (protogynous) hermaphrodite, and in a colony, eggs are ovulated about two days before the peak of sperm emission.

These observations suggest that self-fertilization leads to inbreeding depression associated with developmental deficits likely arising from expression of deleterious recessive mutations.