THE STEINHART AQUARIUM - Gulf of Guinea Science ...

Fish-eating Anemone
Urticina piscivora (Actiniidae)
Distribution: Alaska to southern California.
Habitat: Low intertidal to about 50 m, in
areas with rocky attachment sites and at least
moderate current.
Appearance: Typically about 25 cm across,
though large individuals can grow to 60 cm.
Column is red with white, sometimes red,
tentacles, and a creamy yellow oral disc.
Diet: Invertebrates and small fishes. These
anemones have no zooxanthellae and depend
wholly on capturing their food, a strategy aided
by their exceptionally virulent nematocysts
(stinging cells), which can cause long-lasting
lesions on humans. Food items are usually swept
into the anemone’s tentacles by the current.
Remarks: Painted greenlings (Oxylebius pictus),
sometimes seek protection among the tentacles
of fish-eating anemones as well as on the Tealia
anemone (Urticina lofotensis). Though the
strategy is similar to that of tropical clownfishes,
the greenling-anemone association is facultative
rather than obligatory as the fish can survive well
in areas without anemones.
Leathery Sea Anemone
Heteractis crispa (Stichodactylidae)
Distribution: Red Sea, Indian Ocean to W
Pacific Ocean.
Habitat: Among coral reefs and rubble.
Appearance: Very large anemone to more than
50 cm in diameter. Expanded bushy crown
of tentacles obscure oral disc and mouth.
Tentacles are up to 1 m long, slender and
sinuous; often opaque greyish-brown, violet
or green, occasionally pink. Tips sometimes
blue or purple. Column with tough, leathery
texture, usually with fragments of seashells
and coral attached.
Diet: Microcarnivore of plankton. Zooxanthellae
present.
Remarks: At least 14 species of anemonefishes
are symbiotic with the sebae anemone.
Magnificent Sea Anemone
Heteractis magnifica (Stichodactylidae)
Distribution: Indo-Pacific.
Habitat: 1–25 m, often on prominent structures
in strong currents or in strong surge locations.
Appearance: Disc to 1 m in diameter. Column,
California Academy of Sciences
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which may be red, purple, or pink, grows to 20
cm. Tentacles are of uniform thickness and do
not taper at te tip; tentacles and oral disc are
colored alike in shades of magenta-purple, blue,
green , red, white or brown.
Diet: Most nutrition from products of zooxanthellae.
Also may eat fish and crustaceans.,
Reproduction and Development: Asexual reproduction
by longitudinal fission. Sexual reproduction
presumed although data are lacking.
Remarks: Host to at least 12 anemonefish
species.
When disturbed, H. magifica “balls up,”showing
only the column with only a few tentacles
protruding.
Giant Carpet Anemone
Stichodactyla gigantea (Stichodactylidae)
Carpet Anemones
Distribution: Indo-Pacific and the Red Sea.
Habitat: Shallow water so low that the
anemone may be exposed at low tide. Usually
on sandy surface with pedal disc attached to
hard surface below.
Appearance: Deeply folded oral disc, covered
with short, slightly tapering tentacles that
tend to constantly vibrate. Column ranging
from yellowish to pinkish, tan or gray-green
covered with blue to maroon warty projections.
Tentacles usually brown or greenish, though
occasionally a bright purple, deep blue, or
striking green. May grow to a meter in 10 years.
Diet: Nutrition mostly from products of
photosynthetic zooxanthellae, but also captures
invertebrates and small fishes.
Reproduction and Development: Sexes
separate; females ingest the sperm and fertilize
the embryos internally. Embryos are internally
brooded, released from the mouth as miniature
copies of the adult, and drift as plankters until
settling.
Mortality/Longevity: Life span: At least 10
years, probably much longer.
Remarks: This big fellow has a potent sting and
may harm corals and anemones as it moves
about. Its sting can also cause a severe reaction
in humans.
Sun Anemone
Stichodactyla helianthus (Stichodactylidae)
Distribution: Common to the Bahamas,