Morphological and phase/elemental data of calcifying Australian bryozoans

Two species of calcifying marine bryozoans were examined to investigate their skeletal architecture, geochemistry and functional morphology. Samples were collected from the southern coast of Australia in 1984 and 1987. Reflected light microscope images were used to document the overall colony shape and orientation. Thin sections of the colonies were prepared and imaged using optical microscopy to reveal longitudinal and transverse skeletal organization. Geochemical analysis was performed on polished sections using an Electron Probe Micro Analyser (EPMA), where elemental distribution maps were acquired for Ca, Mg, Sr, and Na. Raman spectroscopy was also conducted to analyse the mineralogy of the specimens. This dataset includes all figures, compositional maps and sample metadata used to support the associated manuscript.