Exaiptasia diaphana

Exaiptasia diaphana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Cnidaria
Subphylum:	Anthozoa
Class:	Hexacorallia
Order:	Actiniaria
Family:	Aiptasiidae
Genus:	Exaiptasia
Species:	E. diaphana
Binomial name
Exaiptasia diaphana (Rapp, 1829)

Exaiptasia diaphana, the pale anemone, is a species of sea anemone in the genus Exaiptasia . ^{[1] [2]}

Description

Exaiptasia diaphana is semitranslucent brown, gray, or white. ^[3] The brown color is caused by the mutualistic photosynthetic zooxanthellae, Symbiodinium microadriaticum, found in the anemone's tissue. E. diaphana has up to 96 tentacles with two rows of cinclides that have protruding acontia that all encircle the oral disk. ^[4] The acontia can be protruded when the anemone is disturbed. ^[3] The tentacles can have a spread of up to 8 cm (3 in). ^[4] The body can get up to 5.1 cm (2 in) tall and 1.3 cm (0.5 in) wide. ^[3]

Ecology

Exaiptasia diaphana is prey for the sea slugs Berghia coerulescens and Spurilla neapolitana. ^[4]

References

1. Alejandro Grajales; Estefanía Rodríguez (27 June 2014). "Morphological revision of the genus Aiptasia and the family Aiptasiidae (Cnidaria, Actiniaria, Metridioidea)". Zootaxa . 3826 (1): 55–100. doi:10.11646/ZOOTAXA.3826.1.2. ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   24990039. Wikidata   Q29463565.
2. "Exaiptasia diaphana". iNaturalist. Retrieved 2021-11-30.
3. Meinkoth, Norman August (1981). The Audubon Society field guide to North American seashore creatures. The Audubon Society field guide series (A Chanticleer Press ed.). New York: A.A. Knopf ; Distributed by Random House. ISBN   978-0-394-51993-7.
4. Ruppert, Edward E.; Fox, Richard S. (1988). Seashore animals of the Southeast: a guide to common shallow-water invertebrates of the southeastern Atlantic coast. South Carolina: Univ. of South Carolina Press. ISBN   978-0-87249-535-7.

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