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Heteranthus verruculatus
Klunzinger,
1877
family Phymanthidae
Cory Pittman
photographed a colony of these anemones in Kahului Harbor, Maui.
I sent the photo to Dr. Daphne Fautin at the University of Kansas,
who kindly identified it for us. According to Reef and Shore
Fauna of Hawaii, Section 1 (published in 1977), "The
oral disk is dark greenish brown to sepia, overlaid by varying amounts
of opaque white, the white sometimes covering all the disk except
the mesenterial insertions.... In Hawaii,
this species is known only from Coconut Island in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu,
where it occurs on sills of concrete spillways between fish ponds."
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Actinoporus elongatus
Carlgren, 1900
family
Aurelianidae
Mike Ogata at the Maui Ocean Center emailed me in May 2008 about
an unidentified anemone found in Maalaea Bay which was on display
in one of their aquariums. Later, Cory Pittman visited the aquarium
and snapped this photo of it partially emerged. He thought it might
be about 2 in. across. I sent the photos to Daphne Fautin at the
Univ.
of Kansas who identified it tentatively as Actinoporus elongatus,
first found off Mozambique, East Africa and known also from Madagascar
and near Townsville, Australia. Examination of a specimen would
be needed to confirm the ID, but Dr. Fautin seemed fairly sure.
The Maui Ocean Center specimen was found in about 20 ft. in silty
sand. Definitely a first record for Hawai`i.
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family Edwardsiidae
I found this small anemone in silty sand at Ho`okena, Hawaii, at
a depth of about 50 ft. in Sept. 2008. It was probably not more
than an inch in diameter and disappeared quickly into its hole after
I snapped the photo. Because of its quick withdrawal I thought it
might be a tube anemone (cerianthid). I sent the photo to Dr. Daphne
Fautin, anemone specialist at the Univ. of Kansas, and she says
it is definitely not a cerianthid because it has no tentacles around
the mouth. She said that it's an edwardsid and belongs to
a family of anemones which live in sand. They tend to be similar
in appearance and often hold a few tentacles erect. Because of their
sensitivity they are very hard to collect. Without a specimen, of
course, she cannot go further. At least two species in this family
are known from Hawaii, both from shallow water close to shore. This
may be a third.
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genus Nemanthus
Sam Kahng sent me this photo of unidentified anemones found attached
to black coral at 140 ft. The shot was taken at the Waikiki Aquarium.
Dr. Daphne Fautin writes: "This photo shows what are generally
called *Nemanthus*. They are common at moderate depths attached
to rods (usually octocoral branches, but also probably any other
elongate cylinder). They are photographed by divers because of their
spectacular colors, but are rarely collected so their identity cannot
be ascertained. There are a couple of other genera that seem similar
and that are easily distinguished by a glance inside (*Nemanthus*
has "acontioids," which are superficially similar to acontia
but are really very different). They are known from eastern Asia
and the Gulf of California, so Hawaii is not at all surprising."
I believe this is another first record for Hawaii.
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family
Aliciidae
Kendra Choquette of Dive Makai in Kona sent in this photo. She writes:
We saw this critter in 100 feet of water, attached to a rock,
out in the middle of the sand at the Garden Eel Dive by the airport!
I touched it (of course) and it did NOT pull in but I could see
it was attached to the rock. It also mildly stung me. Gotta be an
anemone of some sort. The strange creature was the size of my fist-maybe
5-6 inches across and 3-4 inches vertically. Any ideas????
I forwarded Kendra's photo to Dr. Daphne Fautin at the University
of Kansas who replied that it belongs to an anemone of the family
Aliciidae. These anemones, she writes, have protrusions on the column
that harbor symbiotic algae. Because an accurate ID even to genus
can only be made by examining the form and placement of the protrusions
on the column, Dr. Fautin was unable to identify it further.
Anemones in this family, like many others, tend to contract by day
and expand by night. It would be terrific if Kendra could do a night
dive at the site and photograph it in its expanded form. Maybe Dr.
Fautin could then identify it for us. These are amazing, beautiful
animals when expanded, and much sought-after by underwater photographers
in the know. To get an idea what this species might look like, see
the image of the Berried
Anemone, Alicia mirabilis on Paul Humann's site.
You can find
still more images by searching Google. Anemones of this family have
never before been reported from Hawai`i. This is a very exciting
find. Go Kendra!
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Anomalorhiza
shawi Light, 1921
Large scyphozoans such as this are
rare in Hawaiian waters. This animal, originally described from
the Philippines in 1921, is believed to have been introduced accidentally
to Hawai`i. It was first recorded here in the early 1980s. The specimen
in the photo, about 2 ft. across, was collected in Kane`ohe Bay,
O`ahu, in February 2001 and photographed in a large holding tank
at the Waikiki Aquarium. Dr. Bruce Carlson in the background.
Honolulu
Star Bulletin article
Hawaii
Institute of Marine Biology article
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SWIMMING ANEMONE
Boloceroides mcmurrichi (Kwietniewski, 1898)
Actually, this anemone IS in my book,
but the photo is poor in the original edition. In the revised edition
I substituted the top photo above.As you can see from the top photo,
this anemone can actually swim by paddling with its tentacles. The
tentacles are easily shed, however, and this animal had already lost
quite a few by the time I was able to take its picture. Darrell Takaoka
collected it in Kane`ohe Bay, O`ahu, and brought it to me. I returned
it to the Bay, photographed it, and let it go. These can be abundant
in highly protected bays, such as Maalaea and Kaneohe.
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