What does sea anemone eat. Anemone animal: habitats, appearance, lifestyle. Anemones are common in the coastal waters of all the seas of the world. Most of these animals, diverse in shape and color, live on the coral reefs of the tropical belt.

29.10.2019

Flowers can be found not only in fields and meadows, but also at the bottom of the sea. White, blue, yellow - all the colors of the rainbow ... The current, like the wind, sways the petals ...

Actually this anemones or sea anemones, and with plants, except for external resemblance, they have nothing in common. Anemones are relatives of coral polyps and jellyfish. The body consists of an elastic cylindrical leg and a corolla of tentacles. The basis of the body is the leg, which is formed by circular and longitudinal muscles, which allows the body to bend, stretch and contract. Some sea anemones have a thickening at the bottom of the legs - the sole; with its help, sea anemones are glued to the soil or stones.

At the upper end of the body is a mouth disk surrounded by several rows of tentacles. In one row, all tentacles are the same in color, structure and length, but in different rows they differ. Often at the tips of the tentacles there is a cluster of stinging cells that shoot out thin poisonous threads. Poisonous tentacles serve anemones as a weapon of attack and a means of defense. Actinium poison leaves burns on the body of the victim, wounds heal for a long time, ulcers form.

Anemones can be divided into peaceful and more aggressive - predators. Calm individuals feed on everything that floats in the water. They direct sea water with tentacles to the oral cavity and filter it. Maybe something delicious! Some anemones eat everything that comes across - paper, pebbles, and shells, while others can distinguish between edible and inedible prey. Predators catch crustaceans, shrimps, small fish and other small things, paralyzing them with poisonous threads. The digestive process proceeds quickly - after 16 hours only the shell remains from the crustacean. Hungry, the anemone releases its tentacles forward in search of a new victim.

In case of danger, sea anemones hide in their cavity by retracting their tentacles. So from a large living "flower" a small bud is formed. When the danger blows, they open their living "petals" again.

When the habitat is depleted and the sea anemones do not have enough food or insufficient lighting, they can move from place to place. "Walking" can be done in several ways. Some ammonias cling to the soil with their mouth disk, tear off the leg and rearrange it to a new place. Other parts tear off the sole from the ground, and thus move slowly. Still others fall on their side and, like a caterpillar, contracting various muscles of their body, crawl. There are sea anemones that can swim. They actively wave their tentacles, like the movements of a jellyfish dome, and swim where the current takes them.

sea anemones- solitary organisms, and do not tolerate neighborhood. They sting unwanted neighbors with stinging cells. Only in rare cases are colonies of polyps formed. But anemones are "friends" with other marine life, for example, with clown fish. The fish cares for and cleans the tentacles of debris and food debris. In return, in case of danger, the sea anemone hides the fish under its tentacles. Clownfish is one of the few representatives of marine fauna that has developed immunity to the poison of stinging cells.

But the strongest alliance is with hermit crabs. The simplest alliance with cancer of the species Eupagurus excavatus. He finds an empty shell, on which an anemone is already sitting, and populates it.

A more complicated relationship develops with a hermit crab Pagurus arrosor. This crayfish is not looking for an empty shell; it can plant sea anemones on its own house. Cancer with light stroking and tapping attracts sea anemones. She does not sting him at all, but on the contrary, as if "blooms", straightening her tentacles. Pagurus arrosor puts a claw on the anemone, it carefully tears off the sole from the ground and crawls onto the shell of its new neighbor. If there is still room on the shell, the cancer can plant another sea anemone there. There were cases when on the back of a hermit crab there was a whole "garden" of eight sea anemones.

But the most striking symbiosis is observed in hermit crab Eupagurus pride-axi with marine animation Adamsia palliata. Cancer puts a very small sea anemone on its back and never partes with it. When the crustacean grows up and needs to change the shell to a more spacious one, Adamsia comes to the rescue. Over time, her sole grows and expands, hanging over the shell. The base of the stem becomes wider and wider, with time it hardens and becomes elastic, forming Eupagurus pride-axi a comfortable dwelling.

There are anemones that do not wait for their roommate, but are looking for him themselves. Autholoba reticulata clings to a stone or polyp with tentacles, not a sole, and in such a suspended state waits for cancer to crawl under it. When the crustacean appears, she grabs his claw with her sole, and then completely moves to his back.

Such cooperation is beneficial to both parties. Cancer receives protection and picks up food that has fallen, anemone expands its habitat and hunting area.

Anemones can be found in all seas and oceans, even in the Arctic Ocean basin, but most species are found in warm tropical and subtropical waters.

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sea anemone- lat. Actiniaria, a representative of the type Coelenterates, belongs to the class of coral polyps. Anemones or sea anemones are solitary invertebrates.

Structure

Anemones have a large number of smooth tentacles. The number of tentacles is a multiple of six. The number of septa in the gastrovascular cavity is also a multiple of six. The emergence of tentacles occurs gradually. Anemones can have many planes of symmetry, with a large number of tentacles and partitions.

Characteristics of the animal:

Height: The average height of sea anemones is 2-4 cm.

Diameter: The average diameter of sea anemones is 3-7 cm.

Colour: Anemones have a colorful form of different colors, mostly red and green, less often brown. Colorless sea anemones are also found.

Movement and food

The movement is very slow and is carried out thanks to the muscular sole. Anemones are able to settle on the shells of hermit crabs, and live with them in symbiosis. Cancer plays the role of a vehicle. They mainly feed on mollusks, crayfish, small fish and other marine invertebrates, therefore, sea anemones are predatory animals.

Reproduction and habitation

Anemones are dioecious animals. The formation of the sex glands occurs in the partitions or tentacles. There are anemones in the northern seas, they can also be seen in the Black Sea.

Sources:

B.N. Orlov - Poisonous animals and plants of the USSR, 1990.

About the animals included in the order Actiniaria. The name of the animals comes from the name of the earth flower, anemone.

If the classification is checked, sea anemones are included in the class Anthozoa, a type of cnidarians and a subclass of six-pointed corals. This animal is known to the world because of its symbiotic relationship with fish.

From the commonwealth with fish, sea anemones benefit - improved gas exchange and nutrition (food that remains after the meal of the fish).

A symbiosis has also developed between sea anemones and crabs of the genus Lybia. Boxer crabs use the stinging anemone polyps for their own defense against predators. Crabs pick up sea anemones and hold them as a shield. Anemones, in turn, thanks to crabs get mobility, because they cannot move independently.

Here are some interesting facts about sea anemones:

Anemones, like all other cnidarians, have mesoglea in their body - a jelly-like substance. Anemones have a close relationship with corals, hydra, and jellyfish.

Anemones are able to decorate any aquarium. For commercial purposes, sea anemones are treated as a collection for the aquarium. Thus, the anemone trade is increasing.

These marine life have an amazing range of color diversity. Their vitreous bodies are always bright and tender.

Anemone size.

The diameter can reach 1.8 - 3 cm. The largest sea anemones have a span of 2 meters. The smallest barely reach 4 mm.

The mouth of an anemone functions like an anus. The function of capturing and catching prey. The location of the mouth is the center of the disc cavity. And several tentacles are located around the mouth.

Anemones are harmless and harmless animals. The sea anemone is not dangerous to humans. However, some species of sea anemones have a toxin capable of causing burns to humans.

Anemones feed on fish, mollusks and small marine animals. Peaceful anemones are calm individuals: they eat everything that floats in the water. However, they distinguish between edible food and non-edible food.

In the neighborhood of sea anemones live those fish and shellfish that are insensitive to their poison.
For large and predatory fish, anemones serve as a place of camouflage and shelter.

This animal, the sea anemone, is completely different from other cnidarians in its way of life. They have the disadvantage of free swimming, like jellyfish do. They differ from corals in that they do not live in colonies, in groups, but one at a time - they prefer to live alone.

Life cycle of an anemone. The polyp comes from Planula after the egg, fertilized by the sperm, begins to divide.

Asexual reproduction is also characteristic of sea anemones. In some species of anemones, division is the result of
asexual reproduction.

Most anemones live in one place all the time. However, they may move to another place if it is not suitable for them to live. They move if predators pester them or the location faces prolonged dryness. To get to a new place, they use movements that resemble crawling.

The sea anemone can be consumed as food. It is used as a delicacy in southwestern Spain and southern Italy.

Sea anemones are often served battered or marinated in vinegar.

The anemone animal really looks like a flower. They were called anemones, but for some it resembles an aster. Researchers of the deep sea counted one and a half thousand different types of anemones.

Cut into pieces, sea anemones demonstrate their remarkable ability to reproduce and regenerate.

In one row, all anemone tentacles are the same in color, structure and length. however, they may differ in different rows.

Anemones are common in the coastal waters of all the seas of the world. Most of these animals, diverse in shape and color, live on the coral reefs of the tropical zone.

   Type - Coelenterates
   Class - hydroid
   Family - Actiniaria

Basic data:
DIMENSIONS
Length: from a few centimeters to a meter and even more in diameter.

BREEDING
Asexual: division or budding.
Sexual: by the release of eggs and sperm into the water, where free-swimming larvae develop, or by internal fertilization.

LIFESTYLE
Habits: some individuals lead a sedentary lifestyle on the seabed or other solid base.
Food: depending on the species, from plankton to medium-sized fish.

RELATED SPECIES
Anemones, together with corals, belong to the hydroid class, which includes about 6,500 species.

Brightly colored anemones with thin tentacles are one of the most beautiful marine inhabitants. For careless fish and other small marine animals, which, through their carelessness, turned out to be very close, the embrace of the sea anemone's burning tentacles means imminent death.

FOOD

Anemones do not eat plant and animal food. They grab food with their tentacles. Small species reveal tentacles, which are overgrown with small hairs. The movement of water caused by the influx brings microorganisms into the mouth opening.
Large species grab fish and crustaceans, which are killed by the poison of the miserable cells. Actinia has peculiar organs. A muscular pharynx leads from the mouth opening to the gastric cavity. When food enters it, digestive juice begins to stand out from the openings of the glands. Then the nutrients enter the tissues.

DESCRIPTION OF ACTINIA

Anemones are a group of soft-bodied animals that are associated with polyps. Anemones and corals belong to the class of coral polyps. Like all other coelenterates, they have a very simple body structure. It is based on one outer and one inner layer of cells. The inner layer, or endoderm, limits the gastric cavity of the body, which has one opening. Through it, anemone receives food and excretes waste.
The outer layer, or ectoderm, consists of a large number of thin tentacles that grow around the mouth opening located in the upper part of the body. The tentacles have a myriad of miserable cells that serve to protect themselves and capture prey. Anemones have a limited ability to move, so they spend their whole lives attached to the seabed, rocks and coral. The disk on the underside of the sea anemone's sole secretes a sticky substance (the so-called cement) that allows it to stay on the rocks, despite sea currents, ebbs and flows. Anemones cannot walk, but with the help of muscle contractions they can move their tentacles.

BREEDING

Anemones can reproduce in several ways. Rarely reproduce by budding. More often anemones are divided into several parts. In other species, a part of the sole is separated, from which a new sea anemone grows. Some reproduce sexually. There are individuals who, being hermaphrodites, secrete both eggs and sperm. Other species are dioecious. Eggs and sperm are thrown into the water in large quantities, where fertilization occurs.
In this case, larvae hatch from fertilized eggs, which then settle to the bottom and develop to the size of adult organisms.

DEVICE FEATURES

Anemones are one of the best examples of animal symbiosis, which brings mutual benefit to two organisms that often belong to different systematic types. Anemones are armed with stinging cells that can squirt paralyzing poison. Some species of sea anemones often stick to the shell of a hermit crab. With the help of anemones, the hermit crab defends itself from enemies, which are scared away by the burning tentacles of the anemone, and it, in turn, feeds on the remnants of its food. Numerous species of small coral fish live among the tentacles of sea anemones. The most famous of them is the clown fish. From the pitiful tentacles of anemones, these fish protect the body with a layer of mucus. The coexistence of clownfish and sea anemones benefits both sides: the sea anemones give the fish a safe haven, and in exchange they receive very brave hunters as food.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT...

Some sea anemones dig holes in the bottom sandy sediments or in the sand, and there they wait for prey.
Actinium of the genus Thealia is difficult to notice. They are perfectly camouflaged, covering themselves with sand and fragments of shells.
Anemones are not always small. Species living off the coast of Australia are more than a meter in diameter.
In terms of evolution, sea anemones are very primitive. They do not have a brain, and nerve fibers make up a network of anemones that connects the senses directly to the muscles.
The scientific name of some sea anemones, Anemonia, comes from the name of the anemone flower.

OBSERVATION OF ANemones

Several species of sea anemones live on the coast of the Baltic and North Seas. Very common are the anemones of the genus Thealia, small green or brown anemones that live in the tidal zone. At high tide you can see their open tentacles. The largest anemones are found only at great depths. It has many delicate pink or white tentacles. In the Black Sea, one can mainly observe reddish-brown or greenish horse anemones (Actinia equina), which attach themselves to stones.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF ACTIONS

   Sole: the underside of the body secretes a cement-like substance with which anemones attach themselves to the soil.
   Tentacles: they grab prey and present it to the mouth opening; have stinging cells.
   mouth opening: contains microscopic hairs. Thanks to them, water circulates around the body.
   Slime: needed to catch prey.

PLACES OF ACCOMMODATION
Actini live in almost all the seas of the world, most often in tropical waters.
PRESERVATION
Sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, which lives in a salty environment, rarely occurs in Europe today due to drainage and pollution of waters. Some tropical species are threatened with extinction due to the destruction of coral reefs.

Anemones are large-sized coral polyps, which, unlike other corals, have a soft body. Anemones belong to a separate class of coral polyps, they are also related to jellyfish. They are also called sea anemones because they have such a beautiful appearance that they look like flowers.

Features of the appearance of sea anemones

The body consists of a cylindrical leg and a bundle of tentacles. The leg consists of their annular and longitudinal muscles, thanks to which the sea anemone can stretch, shorten and bend. At the bottom of the foot there is a sole or pedal disc.

Mucus is released from the anemone's leg, which hardens, and the anemone sticks to the substrate. Other sea anemones have wide legs, with their help they cling like an anchor to loose soil, and the sole with a bubble acts as a fin. These types of sea anemones swim upside down.

At the upper end of the body is the oral disc, which surrounds a row or several rows of tentacles. In one row, the tentacles are the same, but in different rows they may differ in color and size. The tentacles are equipped with stinging cells, from which thin poisonous threads fly out. The mouth opening may be oval or rounded.

Sea anemones are fairly primitive creatures that do not have complex sensory organs. The unequal anemone system consists of a group of sensitive cells located on the sole, base of the tentacles and around the mouth opening. These nerve cells respond to various stimuli, for example, cells near the mouth are able to distinguish substances, but do not respond to mechanical stimuli, and cells on the sole do not respond to chemical stimuli, but are sensitive to mechanical ones.

Most anemones have a bare body, while sea anemones have a chitinous cover, their legs look like a tube, which is why they were called "tubular". The bodies of some anemones are covered with grains of sand and various building materials, which make the cover more durable.

The color is so diverse that even among representatives of the same species, the shade may vary. Anemones come in all colors of the rainbow: pink, red, green, orange, white, and more. Often the edges of the tentacles have a contrasting color. Anemone body sizes fluctuate over a wide range.

The body height of the smallest gonactinia is 2-3 mm, the largest is the carpet anemone, up to 1.5 meters in diameter, and the height of the metridium anemone reaches 1 meter.

Range and habitats of sea anemones

Anemones live in any oceans and seas. Most of these animals are concentrated in the subtropical and tropical zones, but they are also found in the polar regions. For example, in the seas of the Arctic Ocean lives a sea carnation or senile metridium.

Habitats are quite diverse: from the depths of the ocean to the surf zone. At a depth of more than 1000 meters, few sea anemones live. Although most sea anemones are marine animals, certain species can live in fresh water. 4 species of sea anemones live in the Black Sea, one species lives in the Sea of Azov.

Anemone lifestyle

Anemones that live in shallow water often have microscopic algae in their tentacles, giving them a green tint and supplying them with nutrients. These sea anemones live in lighted places, they are active mainly during the day, as they depend on the photosynthesis of algae. And certain species do not tolerate light at all. Anemones that live in the tidal zone have a clear daily regime, which is associated with the time of drainage and flooding of the territory.

All sea anemones can be divided into 3 types according to their lifestyle: floating, sessile and burrowing. Most of the sea anemones are sessile, the genera Haloclava, Edwardsia and Peachia belong to the burrowing ones, and only the Minyas genus belongs to the swimming ones.

Anemones are attached to the bottom with the help of the so-called "sole".

Sedentary sea anemones, contrary to the name, are able to move slowly. As a rule, they begin to move if something does not suit them, for example, light or lack of food. Anemones move in several ways. Some species arch the body and attach to the ground with a mouth disk, then tear off the leg and transfer it to a new place. Sedentary jellyfish move in a similar way. Other species move their soles, tearing off sections of it alternately from the ground. And the third way - anemones lie on their side and crawl like worms, while different parts of the leg are reduced.

In fact, burrowing sea anemones don't burrow that often. They sit for most of their lives, and they are called burrowers because they can dig into the ground, and only the tentacle corolla remains visible from the outside. In order to dig a hole, anemone acts in a rather interesting way: it draws water into the oral cavity, and alternately pumps it to one end of the body, and then to the other, so it goes deep, like a worm, into the ground.

Sedentary small gonactinia is sometimes able to swim, while swimming it rhythmically moves its tentacles, its movements are similar to dome contraction. Floating species stay on the water passively with the help of pneumocysts, and move with the help of the current.

The relationship of sea anemones with other marine inhabitants

Anemones lead a solitary lifestyle, but if conditions are favorable, then these polyps unite in colonies, forming beautiful flowering gardens. Basically, anemones do not show interest in relatives, but some of them have a quarrelsome disposition. These anemones, when touched by a relative, attack him with stinging cells, which cause tissue necrosis.

But with other types of animals, sea anemones often get along well. The most striking example of symbiosis is the life of sea anemones and clown fish. The fish take care of the polyps, cleaning them of food debris and various debris, and the sea anemones eat up the remains of the prey of clown fish. And shrimp often find shelter from enemies and food in the tentacles of anemones.

Anemones are useful organisms. They live in tropical and subtropical waters.

Relations between anemones adamsia and hermit crabs are even better established. Only young adamsia live on their own, and then hermit crabs find them and attach them to their shells. At the same time, the sea anemone is attached with its mouth disk forward, thanks to which it gets food particles from the soil stirred up by cancer. And actinia protects cancer from enemies. Moreover, when the crayfish changes its home, it transfers the anemone to a new shell. If the cancer has not found its anemone, it tries to take it away from its fellow.

Anemone nutrition

Some anemones send everything that touches their tentacles, even pebbles and other inedible objects, into the oral cavity, while others spit out what cannot be eaten.

Polyps feed on various animal foods. Some species filter the water and extract organic debris from it, while others prey on larger prey - fish. For the most part, sea anemones feed on algae.

anemone breeding

Reproduction in anemones can occur sexually and asexually. Asexual reproduction occurs due to longitudinal division, in this case two individuals are obtained from one individual. This method of reproduction is found in the most primitive anemones gonactinia. In the middle of the legs, these sea anemones form a mouth, after which the animal breaks up into two independent organisms. Since anemones are capable of asexual reproduction, they have a high ability to regenerate tissues: in anemones, lost body parts are quickly restored.

Most anemones are dioecious. But there are no differences between male and female anemones. In certain species of anemones, both female and male germ cells can form simultaneously.

The process of fertilization in sea anemones can occur in the gastric cavity or in the external environment.

In the first week of life, anemone larvae move freely in the water, due to which they are carried by the current over long distances. In some species, the larvae develop in special pockets that are found on the bodies of the mothers.