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Habrosanthus bathamae

Description 4

Habitat
Usually found attached to rocks, but sometimes attached to brachiopod shells and some seaweeds. Most abundantly at or a few metres below low spring tide .

Column
Smooth uniform column without cinclides (holes that emit stinging threads); smooth and clean; low hourglass to pillar-like in form. With a broad pedal disc that sometimes exceeds the diameter of oral disc; moderately adherent. Bright uniform bright salmon pink/orange. Fully extended can be up to 48mm tall, and vary from 13 to 25mm diameter.

Oral disc
Bright salmon pink/orange and flat to concave. Mouth of moderate size and not raised.

Tentacles
Up to 192 white tentacles, moderately long, inner longer than outer, and those of inner whorl may form catch-tentacles. They are smooth and evenly tapered. The length of the inner ones is equal to radius of oral disc and about twice as long as outer ones. Catch-tentacles are rare but when present usually have slight sub-terminal swellings. The tentacles are arranged with six way radial symmetry in up to 6 whorls and cover the peripheral one-third of the disc.

Distribution
Otago. Now apparently ID'd in Wellington, so probably distributed in between if not further.


An edited version (just the overt visual characteristics) of Habrosanthus bathamae, n. gen., n. sp. (Actiniaria: Sagartiidae) from New Zealand.
Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand : Zoology, Volume 1, Issue 6, 7 July 1961.
By Charles E. Cutress

Sagartiidae with broad adherent base. Column smooth, not divided into regions, and without cinclides. Innermost cycle of tentacles having potential to forrn catch-tentacles.

Tentacles up to 192, moderately long, inner longer than outer, and those of inner cycle having potential to form typical catch-tentacles. Colour of column, oral and pedal discs uniform bright salmon, tentacles white.

Description

General Features. Habrosanthus bathamae is a medium sized, soft-bodied actinian (Plate 1). In life, column hourglass to pillar-like in form. The anemone is most frequently found attached to rocks but is also taken on brachiopod shells and certain kinds of algae. The species occurs most abundantly at or a few feet below low spring tide level. The entoderm, in all specimens examined, lacks zooxanthellae.

Size. The two largest specimens, both well extended, have the following dimensions in centimetres: (A) length, 4.8; diameter of mid-column, 1.3; diameter of crown, 2.5; diameter of pedal disc, 2.0. (B) length, 1.5; diameter of crown, 2.5; diameter of oral disc, 1.7; diameter of pedal disc, 4.0.

Colour. Column, pedal and oral discs unmarked salmon or orange . Tentacles white. Acontia salmon. Filaments white.
Column. Not divided into regions; without cinclides; smooth and clean; low hourglass to pillar-like in form.
Pedal Disc. Broad and sometimes exceeding diameter of oral disc; moderately adherent. Ectoderm with pronounced border of intensely eosinophilic granules

Oral Disc. Flat to concave. Radial muscles of oral disc and longitudinal muscles of tentacles in the ectoderm. Tentacles arranged hexamerously in up to 6 cycles and covering peripheral one-third of disc. Mouth of moderate size and non-protuberant.

Tentacles. Up to 192 on large specimens; smooth; evenly tapered; acuminate; innermost equal to radius of oral disc in length and about twice as long as outermost; those of innermost cycle having potential to form catch-tentacles. Catch-tentacles rare, usually with slight sub-terminal swellings and containing at their tips numerous holotrichs and atrichs but no spirocysts.

Reproduction. Species dioecious. Asexual propagation by basal laceration common.

References 4

Note any thumbnails in this section are only to indicate what that reference shows while this page is being built. They have not yet been verified, don't assume they are correct examples.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Tony Wills
  2. (c) Hexacorallians of the World, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/anemone2/images/02851_02900/02899.jpg
  3. (c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Tony Wills
  4. (c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

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