Sea carnation
| Sea carnation | ||||||||||||
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Sea carnation ( Metridium senile ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Metridium senile | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1761 |
The sea carnation ( Metridium senile ) is a species from the order of the sea anemones (Actiniaria).
features
Sea carnations can grow up to 30 cm. Hundreds to thousands of slender tentacles give it a feather-like appearance. The color varies from white to brownish-orange.
distribution
The sea carnation is circumpolar in the North Baltic Sea, North Atlantic , North-East Pacific . South to New Jersey in the western Atlantic; Bay of Biscay in the Eastern Atlantic; southern California in the eastern Pacific; and South Korea in the western Pacific. Introduced populations have been found in South Africa and the Adriatic Sea.
Habitat
Grows on rocks, wood and other hard substrates, from the inter- tidal zone to a depth of 166 m. Tolerates temperatures between 0 and 27 ° C.
behavior
The animal regulates the length of the body column in order to adapt to the current flow. It uses special trapping tentacles equipped with nematocytes to attack other species in the battle for habitat. The tips of the catching tentacles stick to the victim.
The species passively feeds on floating particles that stick to the slimy tentacles and are brought to the mouth by the cilia movement.
literature
- Neil Schlager (Ed.), Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, Second Edition - Volume 1: Lower Metazoans and Lesser Deuterostomes , Farmington Hills 2003, ISBN 0-7876-5777-8
