Carpet anemone
Banded bead anemone
Peacock anemone
Colonial anemone
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| Anthozoans are plentiful on Chek
Jawa. The most obvious ones are the huge carpet anemones that
often amaze first-time visitors. |
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'Anthozoa'
means 'flower like' in Greek. There are about 6,000
species of Anthozoans, making them the largest group
of Cnidarians.
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The Class Anthozoa includes sea anemones, hard and soft corals, peacock
anemones, sea pens and sea fans. These creatures are divided into
two main groups by the number of tentacles and internal body structures
they have.
Those belonging to the Subclass Hexacorallia have tentacles in multiples
of six. These include
Sea anemones (Order Actiniaria),
Peacock anemones (Order Ceriantharia)
Zoanthids or colonial anemones (Order Zoanthidea)
Hard corals (Order Scleractinia)
Those belonging to the Subclass Octocorallia have tentacles which
are branched and in multiples of eight. These include
Soft corals (Order Alcyonacea)
Sea fans (Order Gorgonacea)
Sea pens (Order Pennatulacea)
All members of this group are colonial. A colony is made up of tiny
individual polyps that are connected by tiny canals.
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Hard coral
Hard coral
Soft coral
Gorgonian |
