Batopora clithridiata was a colonial bryozoan made up of many minute zooids living together within a calcified colony. Each zooid was a suspension feeder, extending a crown of tentacles to remove tiny plankton and organic particles from seawater.

Rather than chasing prey, the colony occupied a fixed filter-feeding role in the marine community. By bringing many feeding zooids together in one growing colony, B. clithridiata converted suspended microscopic food into animal biomass available to the wider London Clay food web.