UFA #5 in its retracted state. This specimen only measures about 1cm in diameter.

UFA #5 is a small anemone that lives on the underside of rocks and rubble in intertidal habitats.  I have found it in Tampa and in several locations up the East coast of Florida.  The pictured anemone was actually living under the same rock as the previously featured UFA #4.  They live colonially, suggesting frequent asexual reproduction. They are also quite small, ranging in size from 0.5-2cm across the body.   Tentacles are generally retracted during the daytime and expand at night (see picture below).  Its tentacles are usually uniformly grey, making it rather inconspicuously drab. The red ‘beads’ aligned symmetrically around the body column seem to be the most distinctive visual characteristic. The presence of these ‘beads’ leads me to believe that it might be part of the Bunodosoma genus, which share this characteristic. Some individuals display some radial white striping across the oral disc.

UFA #5 in its nocturnal expanded state for feeding.

UFA #4 in it’s normal, semi-contracted state.  It is only about 1.5cm in diameter (Hooray for macro lenses, teleconverters,  and diopters!).

For our fourth installment of the the “Unidentified Floridian Anemone” (UFA) series, we present this beautiful little anemone that I first discovered about 6 months ago.  I found this specimen simply by spending time flipping over rocks and rubble in a shallow intercoastal inlet in less than 18″ of water, 10 feet from the shoreline.  I suppose you’d call it luck…

This is a very small anemone species.  The pictured specimen is one of the largest that I found (they live in small colonies of about 5-10 individuals), and it only measures about 1.5cm in diameter.   The orange/red color  fluoresces under actinic lighting, making the striped pattern that much more striking.  It seems to spend most of its time in what I would consider a semi-contracted state (see photo above).  During the day it often closes up (see photo below).  Based on its preference for living on the underside of stones, I’m assuming that it is non-photosynthetic.

UFA #4 in a contracted state with a few mesenterial filaments visible (truth…I had to give it a gentle nudge in order for it to close up for the photo and it showed its dissatisfaction by extruding these filaments which otherwise aren’t visible).

The third unidentified anemone we are featuring seems superficially similar to Epicystis crucifer (Flower/Rock Anemone), but I am nearly certain that it is not.  Notably, unlike E. crucifer, there are no magenta ‘beads’ on the underside of the oral disc.  Also, the tentacles of Epicystis crucifer only grow around the perimeter of the oral disc, whereas this anemone develops some tentacles within the center of the oral disc.   The underside is a light brown color and smooth.  The tentacles have small ‘bulbs’ and pointy tips, similar to the ‘light bulb anemones’ found in the Gulf of Mexico, although the ‘bulbs’ are considerably smaller in scale.  I have come across this species only about half a dozen times in all my diving in the Florida Keys. The mottled, earth-toned coloration makes them extremely well camouflaged on the seafloor, so it is likely that I have overlooked quite a few more.  Preferred depth ranges from 10-20 feet on mixed hard bottom/gorgonian/macroalgae coverage.  They live solitarily, anchored in small crevices and holes in the rock.  Maximum size (that I’ve seen) is about 4 cm in diameter.  Mottled colors vary from one individual to another, mostly brown and grey tones, and usually some blue around the mouth.  Occasionally there will be a small amount of orange color splashed in as well.   This anemone is almost certainly photosynthetic, as it will “reach” for the sun when in a shaded/low light situation.  It eagerly feeds on frozen Mysis sp. shrimp. For size reference, this individual is living inside a Lithopoma tectum snail shell (about 2.5 cm in diameter).

This photograph was taken at night in an aquarium in order to capture the ‘mushroom anemone’s’ tentacles in full expansion.  Within a few moments of being illuminated, this anemone will retract the tentacles back inside of itself. For size reference, the anemone is photographed inside an empty Lithopoma tectum (astrea) snail shell roughly 2cm in length.

The second unidentified anemone that we are featuring is a quite an unusual, shape-shifting creature.     It lives on patch reefs and near-shore, hard-bottom gorgonian/macroalgae habitat from 5-25 feet of depth.  During the day, the anemone only exposes the flat, warty surface of its oral disc, such that it lies flat against the bottom.  It wedges its body into very small holes on the seafloor such that its body is completely protected within rock.  At first glance while passing by one of these anemones, it is very easy to confuse it with local corallimorph Discosoma carlgreni, as their oral discs both have very similar texture, size, and shape.  For this reason we have tentatively dubbed it a ‘mushroom anemone’.  We are unsure whether this similarity is a form of mimicry, or simply coincidence.    However, if this anemone is disturbed, it very quickly retracts itself back into its hole with a reaction time that greatly exceeds that of any corallimorph (corallimorphs lack fast-contracting bodily muscles).  It is almost always found solitarily, whereas D. carlgreni is usually found in small colonies of clones.

I had only ever observed this anemone during the daytime while diving, but after collecting one for further examination, we were able to observe it at night in an aquarium.  At night it shows its true anemone side by unfurling a ring of tentacles from inside its mouth.  When lighted, the anemone will retract the tentacles. It appears that it must not feed during the day when its tentacles are withdrawn.  However, the flat oral disc likely serves as a ‘solar panel’ on which to collect sunlight for the zooxanthellae that are presumably within the tissues.  At night when the power of sunlight is moot, the anemone alternates to predator-mode and uses its tentacles to capture prey.  Not a bad way to collect needed energy supplies over all 24 hours in a day…

This ‘mushroom anemone’ is a relatively small anemone, reaching only about 4cm in diameter across the oral disc.  It is found in a variety of color morphs.  “Silt grey” (blends into the seafloor perfectly) is the most common coloration, but I have also observed them in solid red, green, and purple morphs.  They are not particularly uncommon in the Florida Keys, but they are very easily overlooked. The pictured specimen is mottled with fluorescent green on grey.

Pictured above is an unidentified ‘mushroom anemone’ in its daytime appearance. In the wild, you would not be able to see the body or base of this anemone, as it would be protected within a hole in a rock.  A few of the tentacles are still visible within the anemone’s mouth, but typicaly they are not at all visible.  The flat, warty surface of the oral disc is very similar in appearance to that of Discosoma carlgreni, a local corallimorph species. This small specimen measures about 20mm in diameter across the oral disc.

Below is the first in a series of sea anemone species that I have collected in Florida that defy my attempts to identify them.

Orange color morph of the unidentified “sunburst anemone” found locally along rocky Floridian seashores. It measures about 2cm across the oral disc.

Pictured above is an anemone that is found on both the east and west coasts of Florida.  I haven’t yet found it in the Florida Keys, but it is likely to be found there as well.  This anemone is pictured in Humann and DeLoach’s ” Caribbean Reef Creature ID” guide book on page  101, and listed as an unidentified species they dub as a “Sunburst Anemone”.  However, in reference to its range, the authors write that it was “photographed in Los Frailes Islets, Venezuela where the species occurs occasionally; range has yet to be established”.  It would seem logical then, that if it is reported in the extreme southern Caribbean and (now) on the Floridian coasts, that it can also be found elsewhere throughout the rest of the Caribbean basin.  It is amazing that such a widely distributed, and relatively common anemone has yet to be formally described by science.  This is likely due to the scarcity of anemone taxonomists active today.

At least from what I’ve observed in Florida, the “sunburst anemone” is found in shallow, rocky sub- to  inter-tidal habitats.  They are easily overlooked because it seems that they prefer shady crevices and the undersides of rocks.  They live in colonies of dozens of individuals.  They range in size from about 1″-2″ (2.5-5cm)  in diameter.  They show a diversity of color morphs ranging from rust orange to purple-red.  White radial striping (the ‘sunburst’) is often present to varying degrees, but sometimes absent.  Despite how vibrant they appear under flash photography,  they unfortunately do not show any fluorescence.

Their natural habitat is prone to wide fluctuations in temperature, salinity, water quality, and even exposure to air at low tide. Thus they appear to be very hardy aquarium inhabitants.  A small (pico/nano sized) species-specific aquarium would be perfect for these little anemones.  Like other anemones, they are prone to moving from one location to another on their own accord.  Threfore, they run the risk of getting sucked into pump intakes and harmful interactions with other corals or anemones.  Ensure that the aquarium is “anemone safe” to prevent them from harm. I am not 100% certain whether they are photosynthetic or not, but I am erring towards ‘not’ due to their cryptic nature in the wild.  Regular feedings of chopped fish, shrimp, etc.  are most likely all that they need to thrive and reproduce.

Pictured above is an orange-brown morph of the ‘sunburst anemone’ with yellow-ish tentacles.  It measures about 2cm across the oral disc.

Recently, we have been in correspondence with Tim Wijgerde, founder of coralscience.org. Coral Science is an information portal to all types of research, news, and science related to corals, reefs, and associated fields, with an emphasis on making “scientific research” accessible to a wide audience. We think that this an exceptional idea. In effect, Tim has started a platform where curious reef aquarists, divers, students, and researchers can all gather information in one convenient location. Here is a brief interview with Tim, where in his own words, he elaborates on his vision for Coral Science:

Q: What is your intention with coralscience.org?

A: Well, the history of the Coral Science project is very recent. Being
both a biologist and a reef enthusiast myself, I have seen how both worlds
operate and overlap. I began to realize that the scientific community and
aquarists worldwide had a lot to learn from one another, because there is
little communication between the two groups. Scientists busy themselves
with their own research, often not taking the time to write popular-scientific articles. On the other hand, reefers out there really would like to know about coral science, but simply lack the capabilities to get to the information. Scientific papers are published on-line and in scientific magazines, resources which are either unknown to aquarists, or too difficult to read. Furthermore, access to on-line articles is quite
expensive; the average scientific paper will cost you 25-30 USD.

That’s when it hit me; why not set up a website with articles about coral
and ocean related scientific information, which is up-to-date, relatively
easy to read and of course, free. As of yet, we already established warm
contacts with several academics from the field of marine and coral
biology. This we mainly accomplished by means of our own network, because of the fact that some of us are academics as well.

Q: How often do you publish new articles?

A: We try to publish articles on a regular basis. We aim to provide new
content about three times a week. This can be a small “Did you know…”
factoid, or a full-length scientific article. Our main obstacle still is
finding the right authors. We have a small team able and willing to write
these articles, but we need more people from the academic community to
provide a constant stream of content, as our time is limited. We are now
talking to several scientists active in various biological disciplines to
increase future content.

Q: How do you fund this project?

A: I initially set up this website funding it from my own pocket. I
quickly realized that I needed to professionalize this idea, so I created
my own company around it; Coral Publications. This company is now
officially publishing the coralscience.org website, and we try to generate
income by running advertisements. Companies with a focus on science, the
oceans, diving, traveling and such are invited to sponsor us. Additionally, we hope that readers who visit the site regularly will start making
small donations to support our cause. We have a paypal link on our
homepage through which people can easily make small contributions. The
money which we hope to raise in the future will be spent on server hosting
and authorship honoraries.

Q: Given its title, I assume the website will only address coral-related
subjects?

A: Well, not entirely. We also publish articles on reef fish, climate
change and technologies emanating from the field of coral biology, to name a few. Our site tries to communicate science related to the oceans and its ecosystems. As of yet, our focus has been corals, but we hope to bring our readers more articles on other topics as well. Again, the still small group of authors is the main obstable for now.

Q: How can people interested in this project help?

A: The two main things we need right now are authors from the scientific
community and sponsors. We are of course searching for them, but we would appreciate any help. Projects like this really depend on the body of
people supporting it. If you know someone suitable to provide scientific
content, or someone able to become one of our sponsors, please let us
know. If you enjoy our site, please consider making a small donation. You
can contact us at info@coralscience.org

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This is an exciting and important endeavor, and we will look forward to helping Coral Science in the near future. If you are in a position to share pertinent information, please do so. If there was one take home message that seemed to run throughout the International Coral Reef Symposium, it’s that we are in a race against time to unlock the secret lives of corals and reef ecosystems. Clearly, there is no nobler cause than sharing information, and making it accessible to as broad an audience as possible.

Anyone who has ever scraped or cut their skin on a living coral can attest to the malignant nature of what should otherwise be a minor abrasion or cut.  These scrapes don’t heal very quickly, and can become infected very easily. The reason is that the mucus coating secreted by the coral harbors a dense population of bacteria that apparently gains protection and nutrition from said mucous. The relationship between mucous bacteria and coral is only now beginning to be unraveled.

That there were at least 16 presentations and posters that focused specifically on coral mucus at the ICRS, shows the level of interest this topic has been receiving within the marine biological world.

Several of the research projects concluded that the bacterial populations within the coral mucus are in fact mostly unique and independent of the bacterial populations that are found in nearby environments ( surface sediments, biofilms, water column, etc).  This indicates that the coral mucus/bacteria relationship is more complex and specific than previously thought.

An important research topic on coral mucus bacteria revolves around their relationship to coral immune health and disease prevention.  It is speculated that the mucus bacteria are somehow capable of thwarting coral infections (other bacteria, protozoans, etc), by maintaining a balanced population within the mucus (perhaps a similar theory of using ‘probiotics’ as preventative measure?).  Whatever the mechanism, it appears that the coral mucus and resident bacteria population acts as a protective barrier against pathogenic invaders.

Another important role of coral mucus is to act as a medium for nutrient transport.  I assume that this perhaps relates to the mucus’ ability to help adhere to and coat food particles, thereby aiding and enabling digestion.  This is a conjecture on my part, but it seems like a logical process.

A research poster entitled “A Quantitative Approach Linking Coral Mucus And Their Symbiotic Zooxanthellae in Response To Environmental Change” found that 45% of the daily fixed carbon (i.e. the food produced from photosynthesis), was incorporated into coral mucus in Montastrea annularis.   This demonstrates the vital importance that coral polyps place on mucus production.

In the poster mentioned above, the researchers determined that as water temperatures were increased by 1.5 degrees C, mucocyte density (specialized cells that produce mucus) increased, while zooxanthellae density decreased.  They draw the conclusion that increasing temperatures cause M. annularis to rely more upon heterotrophy (eating), than upon autotrophy (zooxanthellate photosynthesis).  Bleached corals were found to have lower densities of mucocytes, but the remaining mucocytes were greatly enlarged, indicative of highly increased mucus production per mucocyte.

A thought that popped into my head while reading the results of this paper, in combination with the other information I picked up in several lectures on the topic, is that perhaps the coral actually digests the bacteria that live in the mucus layer, thereby adding an additional symbiotic food source (Zooxanthellae being the other “food” producer).  It seems possible that by providing a suitable medium for bacterial growth, the coral is able to culture it’s own “bacteria garden” that is consumed at a rate that is balanced with mucus production and the bacterial growth within it.

I hope that future research continues to look into this area, as it is possible that there is still a piece of the coral nutrition puzzle that is still waiting to be unraveled.