Ricordea florida
| Ricordea florida | ||||||||||||
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Ricordea florida |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ricordea florida | ||||||||||||
| Duchassaing & Michelotti , 1860 |
Ricordea florida , also known as Florida disk anemone, is a floweranimalfrom the order of the disk anemones (Corallimorpharia). The sessile animals live in shallow water regions of the Caribbean , the Bahamas and on the Florida coastsat depths of up to 50 meters. Because of its extreme color pigmentation, Ricordea florida has become very popular with marine aquarists.
Way of life
Ricordea florida lives sessile, mostly in large mat-like colonies formed by budding on rocks or dead skeletons of hard corals . Specimens living in deeper water are mostly solitary. Like many other shallow marine regions dwelling anemones are animals with zooxanthellae , tiny, single-celled algae that live in the skin of polyps in a symbiotic relationship . The zooxanthellae carry out photosynthesis and thereby consume carbon dioxide , which is converted into carbohydrates (sugar) together with oxygen . The nutrients formed in this way also benefit the diet of the disc anemones. In addition, zooplankton is also recorded. Commensal shrimp of the genus Periclimenes and two copepods live on the body disc of Ricordea florida : Asteropontios longipalus and Paramolgus antillanus .
features
Ricordea florida has a flat body disc that can reach four to six centimeters in diameter and is covered with numerous short, non-retractable tentacles with rounded tips. The tentacles on the edge of the body are often slimmer and longer. Specimens living in colonies usually stay smaller, their foot disk is often elongated, while solitary animals can be up to eight centimeters wide and the foot disk is round in shape. Ricordea florida is usually brown, green, beige or yellow in color. But there are also red, pink, orange, purple and blue tints. Often the edge of the disc is colored differently (often light blue) than the central part and the mouth opening. The color of the Ricordea florida disc anemones depends on various factors, including: a. the depth at which they live, the water temperature, the season and other influences from their environment. Most specimens have one or two mouth openings. In the case of elongated specimens, however, there can be up to seven mouth openings.
Aquarium keeping
Ricordea florida are disc anemones that are very easy to keep and also suitable for beginners in saltwater aquariums. You need a medium illuminance, especially colored specimens a high one, and a current that is not too strong.
literature
- SA Fosså, & AJ Nilsen: Coral Reef Aquarium , Volume 4, Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag, Bornheim, ISBN 3-928819-05-4
- J. Ch. Delbeek, Julian Sprung: Das Riffaquarium , Volume 2, Dähne Verlag, ISBN 3-921684-45-5
- KORALLE , marine aquarium specialist magazine, No. 44, page 76, October / November 2006, Natur und Tier Verlag Münster, ISSN 1439-779X
- M. + W. Baumeister: Marine fauna, Caribbean and Florida . Ulmer Verlag, ISBN 3-8001-4164-7
