Corkscrew anemone

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Corkscrew anemone
Corkscrew anemone with a young Clarks anemonefish in an aquarium of the Liberec Botanical Garden.

Corkscrew anemone with a young Clarks anemonefish in an aquarium of the Liberec Botanical Garden .

Systematics
Class : Flower animals (anthozoa)
Subclass : Hexacorallia
Order : Sea anemones (Actiniaria)
Family : Actiniidae
Genre : Macrodactyla
Type : Corkscrew anemone
Scientific name
Macrodactyla doreensis
Quoy & Gaimard , 1833

The corkscrew anemone ( Macrodactyla doreensis ) is a large sea ​​anemone from the tropical coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific .

distribution

It lives in the Indian Ocean from the Mascarene Islands via the Chagos Archipelago to the coast of Sumatra and Java . Its distribution area extends further in the Pacific with the exception of the coasts of the Lesser Sunda Islands , across Indonesia to New Guinea , the Bismarck Archipelago and the Great Barrier Reef on the northeast coast of Australia . To the north it occurs over the Philippines , Taiwan to the southern Ryūkyū Islands . Compared to other symbiotic anemones , it has a relatively small distribution area.

features

The mouth disk of the corkscrew anemones is usually gray to brown, often with a purple or green tinge. White radial stripes extend from the mouth opening to the edge. The body, mostly buried in the sediment, is brownish at the top, light orange to bright red at the bottom. The mouth disc reaches a diameter of up to 50 centimeters. The tentacles are not as numerous as in other symbiotic anemones. They are up to 17.5 cm long, taper towards the tip and have a slightly corkscrew-like curvature.

Way of life

The corkscrew anemone lives on sandy soils between rocky and coral reefs. In case of danger, it withdraws into the substrate. It lives in symbiosis with zooxanthellae , from which it gets some of the nutrients it needs. The corkscrew anemone is a symbiotic anemone and an important symbiotic partner of the anemonefish . They accept three species of anemonefish, the Mauritius anemonefish ( Amphiprion chrysogaster ), Clark's anemonefish ( A. clarkii ) and the collar anemonefish ( A. perideraion ) as partners.

literature