Light Bulb anemone. Good or bad?

[Nanni]

Has anyone ever heard of a light bulb anemone? I am worried that they are aiptasia although I was told that they are from a different order, actinairia. They look an awful lot like aiptasia though. I have a lot of them on my live rock. Just wondering.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes I have but it's never good to go with common names. Without a picture though it would be tough to say what you have. Where is your live rock from?
btw Anemonia, Aiptasia, and true anemones are all in the Order: Actiniaria.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[hdtran]

Does this look like your anemone? I have (actually, had) several of these. They slowly disappeared, except for one. BTW, I assume you have Florida aquacultured LR?

For me, it neither replicates madly, nor does it wander around. I do have a couple of errant button polyps (aka zoanthids, sold to me as "palythoa sp.") that I am more concerned about. :lol:

Over in "the other" reef forum, there was some raging controversy as to whether the "light bulb" anemone was, in fact, either Aiptasia pallida or Aiptasia tagetes. I am convinced that it is not A. pallida, and cannot find a good photo of A. tagetes.

Hy

p.s. David, I'm still waiting for my mystery conch or whelk to pose for a head shot as you requested. I've also got a mystery baby nudibranch (I think) that I'll post as soon as I upload to my computer.

 

[Anonymous]

Yup these are the critters in question:

I'm on my way to work, when I get back I'm gonna check some more on these. Yes these are found on Florida or Gulf Of Mexico LR.


Regards,
David Mohr

 

[hdtran]

David,

Is that the photo from the Paul Humann guidebook? Gorgeous photo! I also vaguely recall something about "sponge anemone."

Hy

 

[Anonymous]

Is that the photo from the Paul Humann guidebook? Gorgeous photo! I also vaguely recall something about "sponge anemone"

Nope it's a pic from the site of a photojournalist by the name of Clay Coleman. As far as it being Hyalonema spp. ( Sponge Anemone ) those tend to be very deep water critters. The reason you can't find pics of Aiptasia tagetes is because it's listed under the name Bartholomea tagetes. Personally I think it's a species of Bartholomea but without seeing one of these Anemones in person and dissecting it we may never know for sure. I'm gonna keeping looking into this though.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[hdtran]

Bartholomea, eh? Several web livestock e-tailers list Bartholomea annulata (curlycue anemone) as an inexpensive anemone for reef tanks

But this fellow's tentacles are the wrong morphology compared with curlycue.

Clay Coleman--is that the guy who recently wrote a Scuba Diving reference book, in Louisiana? What a beautiful picture!

Hy

 

[Anonymous]

Bartholomea, eh? Several web livestock e-tailers list Bartholomea annulata (curlycue anemone) as an inexpensive anemone for reef tanks

But this fellow's tentacles are the wrong morphology compared with curlycue.

Yes but there is more than one species of Bartholomea. :wink:
I still have to research this more as there are about 500 and some genera of Actiniaria so this may take some time.
Most Sites are calling this particular critter a yet undescribed Anemone.

Clay Coleman--is that the guy who recently wrote a Scuba Diving reference book, in Louisiana? What a beautiful picture!

Yup that's the guy.

Regards,
David Mohr