Adamsia palliata

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Adamsia palliata
Pagurus prideaux.jpg
Pagurus prideaux and Adamsia palliata, here inhabiting a gastropod shell
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Order: Actiniaria
Family: Hormathiidae
Genus: Adamsia
Species:
A. palliata
Binomial name
Adamsia palliata
(Müller, 1776)
Synonyms
List
  • Actinia carciniopadosOtto, 1823
  • Actinia carcinopados
  • Actinia carcinopoda
  • Actinia casciniopadosOtto
  • Actinia maculataAdams, 1800
  • Actinia palliata
  • Actinia pictaRisso, 1826
  • Adamsia carciniopados(Otto, 1823)
  • Adamsia carcinopados
  • Adamsia carcioniopados
  • Adamsia maculataJohnst.
  • Cribrina palliataEhrenberg
  • Medusa palliataFabricius, 1779
  • Sargartia palliata

Adamsia palliata is a species of sea anemone in the family Hormathiidae. It is usually found growing on a gastropod shell inhabited by the hermit crab, Pagurus prideaux . [1] The anemone often completely envelops the shell and because of this it is commonly known as the cloak anemone or the hermit-crab anemone.

Contents

Taxonomy

In a revision of British Anthozoa in 1981, Manuel applied the name Adamsia carciniopados to this species, attributing it to Otto, 1823. However Cornelius and Ates in 2003 decided that Adamsia palliata was the valid name, attributing it to O.F. Muller, 1776. [2]

Description

A. palliata normally lives on the shell of a sea snail which is housing a hermit crab. The anemone's base is wide and convoluted with lobes that extend around the shell. The edges join together in a suture where the shell is completely encircled. The oral disc and tentacles are orientated downwards beneath the underside of the crab. The basal lobes can extend to about fifteen centimetres while the trunk is only about one centimetre high. The column is fawn tinged with pinkish-purple, paling to white near the parapet. It is covered with vivid magenta spots which are largest in the central portion. There is a narrow pink line round the margin of the parapet and the oral disc and tentacles are white. The tentacles are numerous and about one centimetre long, not fully retractable and arranged in four sub-marginal rows. The mouth is long and oval and protrudes from the disc. When it becomes too large for the shell, the anemone secretes a chitinous membrane at its base. This has the effect of increasing the volume of the shell available to the hermit crab which can then inhabit it for a longer period before needing to find a new home. [3] In one instance, on a shell of Gibbula umbilicalis , this membrane had developed into a pseudo body-whorl as voluminous as the rest of the shell. [1] On the lower part of the column there are specialist cells which emit defensive pink (occasionally white) threads called acontia if the animal is disturbed. [1] [4]

Distribution and habitat

A. palliata is found in shallow parts of the northeast Atlantic Ocean south to the Azores, in the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. [5] It occurs wherever its hermit crab host is found, in deep water on sandy flats and particularly favours muddy gravelly bottoms with shell fragments. [1] Off the coast of Norway it was said to be common at a depth of 15 to 20 fathoms (30 to 40 metres) in 1860. [1] In Norwegian fjords the anemone is observed typically from 10 meters deep. [6]

Biology

A. palliata breeds during the summer months. Several hundred globular golden eggs are ejected into the water column through the mouth and are fertilised externally. Each develops into a planula larva which settles and develops into a juvenile sea anemone. The larva is for some reason drawn to settle on the inner lip of a gastropod shell. At first the larva develops in the same way as a typical sea anemone, but as it grows, its base extends around the gastropod shell until the two lobes meet at the upper side of the lip. The species of shell the anemone chooses varies, and has included Buccinum undatum , Scaphander lignarius , and various Trochidae. It has even been found on a shell of the garden snail Cornu aspersum which had been accidentally washed out to sea. The shell always seem to be tenanted by the hermit crab Pagurus prideaux . [1] Occasionally this anemone is found on empty shells, but this may be explained by the fact that the crab will readily abandon its current shell if it finds a larger or better one to move into. Young specimens of the anemone are able to detach themselves from their shell and re-attach themselves elsewhere, such as another shell, a Laminaria frond or the side of an aquarium. [1]

Ecology

The symbiosis between A. palliata and P. prideaux is beneficial to both. The anemone gains a mobile base and access to food scraps while the crab gains the protection against predators provided by the anemone's nematocysts. It is not an obligate symbiosis however. [7] The anemone has been kept in an aquarium for an extended period on a rock substrate [8] and in 1969, Maynardi and Rossi found a single example of the hermit crab Pagurus excavatus carrying, on its gastropod shell, a specimen of A. palliata and another of Calliactis parasitica . [7]

Related Research Articles

Hermit crab family of crustaceans

Hermit crabs are anomuran decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells to protect their fragile exoskeletons. There are over 800 species of hermit crab, most of which possess an asymmetric abdomen concealed by a snug-fitting shell. Hermit crabs' non-calcified abdominal exoskeleton makes their exogenous shelter system obligatory. Hermit crabs must occupy shelter produced by other organisms, or risk being defenseless.

Anthozoa A class of cnidarians without a medusa stage

Anthozoa is a class of marine invertebrates which includes the sea anemones, stony corals and soft corals. Adult anthozoans are almost all attached to the seabed, while their larvae can disperse as part of the plankton. The basic unit of the adult is the polyp; this consists of a cylindrical column topped by a disc with a central mouth surrounded by tentacles. Sea anemones are mostly solitary, but the majority of corals are colonial, being formed by the budding of new polyps from an original, founding individual. Colonies are strengthened by calcium carbonate and other materials and take various massive, plate-like, bushy or leafy forms.

<i>Pagurus bernhardus</i> Species of crustacean

Pagurus bernhardus is the common marine hermit crab of Europe's Atlantic coasts. It is sometimes referred to as the common hermit crab or soldier crab. Its carapace reaches 3.5 centimetres (1.4 in) long, and is found in both rocky and sandy areas, from the Arctic waters of Iceland, Svalbard and Russia as far south as southern Portugal, but its range does not extend as far as the Mediterranean Sea. It can be found in pools on the upper shore and at the mean tide level down to a depth of approximately 140 metres (460 ft), with smaller specimens generally found in rock pools around the middle shore and lower shore regions, with larger individuals at depth. P. bernhardus is an omnivorous detritivore that opportunistically scavenges for carrion, and which can also filter feed when necessary.

Sea anemone A group of marine, predatory animals of the subclass Hexacorallia.

Sea anemones are the marine, predatory animals of the order Actiniaria. They are named after the anemone, a terrestrial flowering plant, because of the colourful appearance of many. Sea anemones are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Hexacorallia. As cnidarians, sea anemones are related to corals, jellyfish, tube-dwelling anemones, and Hydra. Unlike jellyfish, sea anemones do not have a medusa stage in their life cycle.

<i>Condylactis gigantea</i> Species of sea anemone

Condylactis gigantea is a tropical species of ball anemone that is found in shallow reefs and other shallow inshore areas in the Caribbean Sea – more specifically the West Indies – and the western Atlantic Ocean including southern Florida through the Florida Keys. It is also commonly known as: giant Caribbean sea anemone, giant golden anemone, condylactis anemone, Haitian anemone, pink-tipped anemone, purple-tipped anemone, and Florida condy. This species can easily be seen growing in lagoons or in inner reefs as either individuals or loose groups, but never as colonies. They are often used as a model organism along with others in their genus for facultative symbiosis with monocellular algae.

<i>Dardanus pedunculatus</i> Species of crustacean

Dardanus pedunculatus, the anemone hermit crab, is a species of hermit crab from the Indo-Pacific region. It lives at depths of up to 27 m and collects sea anemones to place on its shell for defence.

<i>Dardanus calidus</i> Species of crustacean

Dardanus calidus is a species of hermit crab from the East Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea.

<i>Calliactis parasitica</i> Species of sea anemone

Calliactis parasitica is a species of sea anemone associated with hermit crabs. It lives in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea at depths between the intertidal zone and 60 m (200 ft). It is up to 10 cm × 8 cm in size, with up to 700 tentacles, and is very variable in colour. The relationship between C. parasitica and the hermit crab is mutualistic: the sea anemone protects the hermit crab with its stings, and benefits from the food thrown up by the hermit crab's movements.

<i>Epiactis prolifera</i> Species of sea anemone

Epiactis prolifera, the brooding, proliferating or small green anemone, is a species of marine invertebrate in the family Actiniidae. It is found in the north-eastern Pacific. It has a feature rare among animals in that all individuals start life as females but develop testes later in their lives to become hermaphrodites.

<i>Sagartia troglodytes</i> Species of sea anemone

Sagartia troglodytes is a species of sea anemone in the family Sagartiidae, also known as the mud sagartia or the cave-dwelling anemone.

<i>Metridium senile</i> Species of sea anemone

Metridium senile, or frilled anemone, is a species of sea anemone in the family Metridiidae. As a member of the genus Metridium, it is a type of plumose anemone and is found in the seas off north-western Europe and both the east and west coasts of North America.

<i>Pagurus prideaux</i> Species of crustacean

Pagurus prideaux is a species of hermit crab in the family Paguridae. It is found in shallow waters off the northwest coast of Europe and usually lives symbiotically with the sea anemone Adamsia palliata.

Calliactis polypus Species of sea anemone

Calliactis polypus is a species of sea anemone in the family Hormathiidae. It is usually found living on the surface of a sea snail shell in which a hermit crab is living.

Dardanus venosus, the starry-eyed crab or stareye crab, is a species of hermit crab in the family Diogenidae. It occurs in shallow water on the eastern coasts of America from Florida southward to Brazil. It is sometimes kept in reef aquaria.

Calliactis tricolor, the tricolor anemone or hitchhiking anemone, is a species of sea anemone in the family Hormathiidae. It occurs in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It can be found attached to rocks but is often attached to a living crab or mollusc or an empty shell occupied by a hermit crab.

Cerianthus lloydii is a species of tube-dwelling sea anemone in the family Cerianthidae. It is sometimes called the lesser cylinder anemone and is found in shallow seas around the coasts of north west Europe.

<i>Condylactis aurantiaca</i> Species of sea anemone

Condylactis aurantiaca, commonly known as the golden anemone, is a species of sea anemone in the family Actiniidae. This species always remains largely buried in sand or sediment, attached to the substrate, with only the oral disc and tentacles visible.

Pagurus forbesii is a species of hermit crab in the family Paguridae. It is found in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

<i>Pagurus dalli</i> Species of crustacean

Pagurus dalli, commonly known as the whiteknee hermit, is a species of hermit crab in the family Paguridae. It is found in the northeastern Pacific Ocean at depths down to about 276 m (900 ft). It usually lives in a mutualistic symbiosis with a sponge, or sometimes a hydroid.

<i>Oulactis magna</i> Species of sea anemone

Oulactis magna, commonly known as the giant shore anemone or camouflaged anemone, and by its Māori name kōtore tino nui, is a common sea anemone found in New Zealand.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Adamsia palliata Philip Henry Gosse. A history of the British sea-anemones and corals. 125-133. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
  2. ↑ Cornelius, P. F. S., and R. M. L. Ates. 2003
  3. ↑ John Barrett & C. M. Young (1958). Collins Pocket Guide to the Sea Shore. p. 60.
  4. ↑ Adamsia carciniopados (Bohadsch, 1761) Encyclopedia of Life. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  5. ↑ Adamsia palliata (Fabricius, 1779) Archived 2006-09-16 at the Wayback Machine Hexacorallians of the World. Retrieved 2011-09-01.
  6. ↑ Moen, F. E. og Svensen, E. (2014). Dyreliv i havet. 6te utgave. 768 sider. Kom forlag
  7. 1 2 Pagurus prideaux and Adamsia palliata are not obligate symbionts R. M. L. Ates 1995. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  8. ↑ Adamsia palliata (O.F. Muller, 1776) Actiniaria.com. Retrieved 2011-09-01.
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