[1] Crisularia plumosa is a colonial bryozoan that forms small bushy clumps, up to 10 cm (4 in) high, which are attached to the substrate by a tangled ball of rhizoids.

As it buds and develops into a colony, a robust central trunk is formed, and branches grow out dichotomously from this in a characteristic spiral fashion, each with fine feathery branchlets.

[2] Crisularia plumosa is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, its range extending from the North Sea and the coasts of the British Isles and Ireland, to the Iberian Peninsula and Madeira; it is found sparingly in the Mediterranean Sea.

[3] Crisularia plumosa is a filter feeder; the tentacles on the lophophore create a current that wafts diatoms, bacteria and other small organic particles within reach, and these are conveyed to the mouth.

[2] Alongside Flustra foliacea, this species forms part of a dense bryozoan "turf" that is found on heavily silted but moderately wave-exposed rocks and boulders round certain coasts of Britain just below the littoral zone; the habitat is dominated by sponges Suberites ficus, Suberites carnosus and Hymeniacidon perlevis.