Sea Anemones and Clownfish by Gabriela G.
Description: Clown Fish and Sea Anemone-Symbiosis
Image copyright: Pics 4 Learning
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Subclass: Hexacorallia
Order: Actiniaria
A sea anemone looks is like a flower that lives underwater. Its tentacles have small stinging cells that keep it safe. A sea anemone can be found in coral reefs across the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and The Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Usually, you can find quite a few in the same place!
Sea Anemones belong in a group along with corals, called anthozoans. There are over 6,000 species of these anemones. It has a stalk-like body that attatches to any surface. The top of it is a bulb shape that is covered by many tentacles that surround the mouth. Did you know that the most tentacles an anemone can have is practically countless?
Sea anemones and clownfish share something called "symbiosis,'' or a way of living and taking care of each other. The clownfish eats small pests keeping it clean. This means anemones provide a meal for the clownfish. It also keeps the clownfish and itself safe from predetors. The anemone also shares symbiosis with a crab and shrimp. A sea anemone and a crab are great friends, along with the clownfish. The crab either picks the anemone up and waves it around, or it picks it up and places it neatly on its back. Both ways are to protect the crab from predators. The shrimp shares symbiosis the same way the clownfish does.
Several thousand species of anemones live in the sea at various depths and throughout wide temperature ranges. They are most abundant however, in tropical coastal waters. Sea anemones attach themselves to hard surfaces like rock, coral or the sea floor. There are even several species of burrowing anemones. Limited movement is achieved by slowly gliding on their pedal disc. Some “swim” by bending their bodies or lashing their tentacles. A few do “handstands” and travel on their tentacles
Sea anemones are very clever when catching their prey. Their bright colors and flower-like appearence attracked unsuspecting prey. If they get to close...BAM! The anemone grabs it with its tentacles and the stingers on the tentacles paralyze the delicious morsel. Then it drags it to its slit-like mouth. An anemone's favorite thing to dine on is fish eggs, baby fish, adult fish, many types of jellies, sunstars, tiny floating animals and plants, and just about anything it could get its hands..er..tentacles on.
Anemones reproduce by spawning or releasing eggs and sperm into the ocean at the same time. Females can produce up to millions of eggs per each spawn. Fertilization is most likely to occur if a large number of anemones are attached in the same area and spawn at the same time. The larvae travel into the epipelagic zone or the zone in the open ocean near the surface. When the anemones grow large enough, they will drop down and attach to a reef.
Types of Anemones:
The Dahlia Anemone- It has a short, thick stalk covered in lumps, which are very sticky.
The Orange Sea Anemone- Just by reading its name, you could tell it is a very nice shade of orange. This anemone has many rigid tentacles that surround its mouth.
The Beadlet Anemone- This is a very common type of an anemone. Beadlets live on rocks between high and low tides. It is usually red, but possibly, it can be brown, orange, and sometimes even green.
The Snakelocks Anemone- The Snakelocks anemone gets its name because each of its 200 long, coiling tentacles are similar to the snake.
It is usually a bright green in color.
The Orange Ball Anemone- This is a very interesting anemone. The tentacles are pale blue and see-through. The "orange ball" refers to an yellow-orange ball on the tip of its tentacles.
Jewel Anemones- these anemones are very beautiful. They have pale knobbed tentacles, but their shiny, bright bodies go with its name because they glisten and gleam like a gem underwater.
The Plumose Anemone- This sea anemone has the same details as every other anemone, but the special quality of the Plumose is that it can stretch its stalk to be any kind of shape. It can be tall and thin, short and stout, and somewhere inbetween. The Plumose can be any color that ranges from a perfect white, cream, yellow, brown, orange, and red. its tentacles are in bunches and look very feathery and soft to touch, but whatever you do...JUST DON'T!
The largest anemone is a type of discoma that can reach 2 ft (60 cm) across. It lives in the colorful Great Barrier Reef of Australia. Some sea anemones can live as long as most people. If they are protected and well fed, they can live in seawater tanks. Sea Anemones can replace water filters because they can clean unpolluted water. They can live for 70 years.
Sea anemones may look harmless, but don't be fooled by their squishy body and slow motion. These guys would push and shove each other, or even rip off a rival in slow motion. This is all just to get the best spot on the rock. Wait till you see them fighting over a mate! It's nothing compared to this! When you see anemones fighting over a mate, get out of the area as fast as your flippers could flip!
