It’s a little stockier, a little shorter, a little wider. xanthogrammica should say BRIGHT SOLID NEON GREEN to you.(Note there are probably misidentifications on both these pages.) And the water is definitely warmer.Ĭheck out this google image search for xanthogrammica. It’s not considered “exposed” within the context of the rest of the west coast. Believe it or not, Cabrillo is a pretty calm intertidal environment as the outer coast goes. That doesn’t automatically mean they are found everywhere in between. So it makes sense that someone could be seeing them or reporting them further south. I honestly can’t remember if I saw them there or not, but I do remember seeing lots of species there that I see further north, than I see in San Diego. The area around La Bufadora gets more upwelling than San Diego does, and if you go there the species look more like what you might find in Santa Cruz than what you find in San Diego. Such environments do exist further south in Mexico. They are in colder more wave swept intertidal environments. xanthogrammica at Cabrillo, or San Diego county, for that matter. Benjamin Pister, Marine Biologist, formerly at Cabrillo Other information available on prey but not included due to lack of additional references.ĭiscussion about the types of Solitary Anemones at Cabrillo – specifically does Cabriilo have any Anthopleura xanthogrammica or just Anthopleura sola ?Ĭomments from Dr. Wikipedia: For reproduction and predator information. American Southwest Publishing Company of San Diego. Life Between the Tides – The Natural History of the Common Seashore Life of Southern California.
Waste is excreted back through the same slit that serves as the mouth.Ĭommon Name(s): solitary anemone, green anemone, starburst anemoneĮdward F.
Interesting facts: Although most people may view anemones as delicate, green flowers of the intertidal zone, anemones are actually colorless carnivores. sola has to patiently wait for living or dead prey to fall or swim into its stinging tentacles and become trapped. As a mostly sessile (permanently attached) creature, A. sola will appear quite differently it will use its tubercles to cover itself with bits of shell and debris. opens its tentacles during the day, and when submerged, to allow sunlight to reach the plant cells living within it. Newly formed pelagic, planktotrophic larvae float in the water until dispersing and settling in mussel beds. sola reproduce sexually via external fertilization of sperm and eggs in the late fall. Anemones placed in dark locations will lose their plant cells and resulting green coloration. This mutualistic partnership provides the plants protection and carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, and oxygen and some food for the anemones as a result of photosynthesis. Above the column short, conical filamentous tentacles spread outward from a central disc with a slit that is the mouth.Ĭoloration, which includes various shades of green to snow white, is due to the presence or absence of single cell plants that live in the tissues of the anemones and provide pigmentation. The column of the anemone has numerous suctioning tubercles surrounding a gastro-vascular cavity, which are used to cover the anemone with pieces of shell and debris during low tide to prevent desiccation (drying out). Although they can move slowly, they are usually attached to a rocky surface at one location and do not move. sola.Īdaptations: Although sometimes seen protruding through the sand, they are always attached by their basal disc to a rocky substrate underneath. sola include: the nudibranch Aeolidia papillosa and the snail Epitonium tinctum (both feed on the tentacles), and the snail Opalia funiculata and the sea spider Pycnogonum stearnsi (that feed on the column). The stinging cells are too small to affect humans, and will only feel ‘sticky’ if touched.
What do they eat: The mutualistic plant cells living in the anemone do not produce all the food needed by the anemone, and it feeds on living or dead organisms that become trapped in its flowery tentacles, which contain tiny stinging nematocysts that paralyze prey and give the anemone its green color. Range is from central California to Baja California. Where to find them: These invertebrates are typically 3 to 5 inches in diameter and are found in the rocky inter-tidal zone in tidepools reasonably protected from surf, and on protected surfaces and crevices in the middle to low tide zone. Solitary Anemone ( Anthopleura sola) Contributed by TPERP Clay Clifton
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