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Carpet
anemone
Stichodactyla sp.
Order Actiniaria
What
are Carpet anemones?
Carpet anemones are among the largest of sea anemones. Often mistaken
for plants, they belong to the Class Anthozoa which means 'flower
animals'.
Cross-section of a carpet anemone
Place your mouse over the diagram
to see the different parts of the carpet anemone |
What
we see spread out like a carpet is called its oral disc. Covered
with short, sticky tentacles, these trap anything edible.
The anemone has a long column that is buried in the ground and
ends in a pedal disc that anchors the animal. |
For a better
grip, some species have verrucae (adhesive bumps) on the column. A
carpet anemone can retract its oral disc into the sand during low
tide.
Stinging
carpet! Sea anemones have stingers in their tentacles.
Most of the stingers simply entangle animals that blunder into them.
They have some stingers that can inject a toxin that affects smaller
animals. Generally, these stings do not hurt us, but they can leave
welts on sensitive skin. The tentacles then slowly move the captured
meal towards the mouth. The mouth is a slit in the center of the oral
disc. It can stretch open wide to swallow a large meal. A sea anemone
does not have an anus! The animal has to spit out any indigestible
bits from its previous meal before swallowing the next one.
High
and dry:
Carpet anemones can survive for a short while out of water. To conserve
water, they shrink their oral disc to reduce their surface area and
secrete mucus to cover their mouth and delicate body parts. Sediment
gets stuck to this mucus, probably providing some shade from the sun.
When the tide comes back, they unfurl their oral discs to the full
size.
Can
they move? Carpet anemones probably usually stay in one
spot. However, they can uproot themselves and move to a new place.
This is probably how they avoid being buried as the sand bar shifts.
If you find an 'uprooted' carpet anemone, you may place it in a pool
of water. There is no need to 're-plant' it.
Carpet babies: There is not much
information on how carpet anemones reproduce.
 Baby
anemones? Tiny carpet anemones are found everywhere, especially
among the seagrass. They are hard to spot. This is why we should avoid
stepping into the seagrass lagoon.
Crowded carpets: All kinds of
animals may live near, under and even on top of a carpet anemone.
Tiny transparent shrimps are sometimes seen
on them. |
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Tentacles
Mouth
Body column
Footloose anemone
Laying Low
at low tide
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quick
facts
To about 40cm across but tiny ones may also be seen, common
in the seagrass lagoon, coral rubble and sand bars
Classification:
Order Actiniaria
Class Anthozoa
Phylum Cnidaria |
