Animal sea anemone: habitats, appearance, lifestyle. Sea anemones - corals, jellyfish, or sea flowers? Habitat conditions for sea anemones

Any sea anemone is extremely beautiful. Therefore, sea anemones are often called sea anemones. This has already become official name, they got for their external resemblance with plant flowers. And indeed, underwater landscapes decorated with sea anemones sitting on them can be compared to an exotic flowerbed.

They do not have an axial skeleton and are therefore invertebrates.
These beauties belong to the type of coelenterates and are the closest relatives of corals.

And although sea anemones always live solitarily, and corals always form colonies, both of these groups of animals have many common features in the building.

Dear ecological guests, today you will find amazing video meetings with unusual animals!

How does a polyp of coelenterates work?

Sea anemone - metridium senile (Sea of Japan)

Metridium senile - sea anemone, the photo of which you see on this page, demonstrates the structure of an individual polyp. A polyp is a single form of this animal. Therefore, one sea anemone is one polyp. And coral has many polyps that form a colony.

But internal structure and their principle of life is the same. An individual polyp resembles a two-layer sac, open at one end, with one hole, inside of which there is an “intestinal” cavity.

Digestion of food takes place in this cavity, and the hole acts as a mouth. And through the same hole, undigested food remains are thrown out of the polyp’s body. The mouth is surrounded by a ring of tentacles.

Watch a fragment of a hand-drawn cartoon about how sea anemones feed.

Video, sea anemone:

So, you were careful and saw that first the sea anemone put the caught fish into its mouth, and then threw out their skeletons. Amazing, isn't it?

Imagine - sea anemones are very similar in structure!

If we turn the jellyfish with its dome down, we will see all the features of the sea anemone polyp:

After all, the jellyfish also has one hole - it serves as a mouth and a place for throwing out waste.
The jellyfish has tentacles with which it catches food, and the sea anemone also has them.
If you stretch out the dome of a jellyfish, you get the elongated body of an anemone.

You can even try to make this transformation of a jellyfish into an anemone on a plasticine model.

Make a jellyfish out of plasticine, and then pull its dome down in the form of a tube and move the tentacles closer. Attach the lower part of the tube to something durable - and here you have an anemone!

What types of sea anemones are there?

There are a wide variety of sea anemone species in nature. In total, there are approximately 1,500 species of these animals that live only in the sea. Freshwater anemones, unlike jellyfish, do not exist in nature. The sizes of sea anemones vary over a very wide range:

the body diameter of the sea anemone ranges from a few millimeters to 1.5 m;
height can reach 1 m;

Most sea anemones have a high, elongated column-shaped body, in the upper part of which there is a mouth, surrounded by numerous long tentacles carrying stinging cells with poison. Their lower part is attached to the underwater substrate.

But among sea anemones there is one amazing family. See what these sea anemones look like in an aquarium.

Video, sea anemone:

With the help of this video, you got acquainted with an anemone called Amplexidiscus fenestrafer or Great Elephant Ear from the Discosoma family. Isn't it a very apt and telling name?

Representatives of the discosoma family (Discosomatidae) are the most amazing sea anemones!

The body of the discosoma has the shape of a flexible disk, which is covered from the inside with cone-shaped tentacles. At the bottom of the disk there is a sole for attaching the animal to the substrate. In the upper central part of the disk there is a rather large mouth - the oral opening.

They are painted in almost all the colors of the rainbow: green, yellow, lilac, purple and others. Disc diameter - up to 40 cm

Symbiosis in the life of sea anemones

Sea anemone and hermit crab are the most common example of symbiosis (mutually beneficial cooperation) among sea anemones. The hermit crab is a means of transportation for sea anemones, since sea anemones move very slowly on their own. Sea anemone, whose tentacles have stinging cells, provides protection to the hermit crab.

Sea anemones are large coral polyps that, unlike other corals, have a soft body. Sea anemones belong to a separate class coral polyps, they are also related to jellyfish. They are also called sea anemones because they have such beautiful view that look like flowers.

Features of the appearance of sea anemones

The body consists of a cylindrical leg and a bunch of tentacles. The leg consists of circular and longitudinal muscles, thanks to which the sea anemone can stretch, shorten and bend. At the bottom of the leg there is a sole or pedal disc.

Mucus is released from the sea anemone's leg, which hardens, and the sea anemone adheres to the substrate. Other sea anemones have wide legs, with their help they cling, like an anchor, to loose soil, and the sole with a bladder acts as a fin. These types of sea anemones swim upside down.

At the upper end of the body is an oral disc, which surrounds a row or rows of tentacles. In one row the tentacles are the same, but in different rows they may differ in color and size. The tentacles are equipped with stinging cells, from which thin poisonous threads fly out. The mouth opening may be oval or round in shape.

Sea anemones are fairly primitive creatures that do not have complex sensory organs. The anemone's unequal system consists of a group of sensory cells located on the sole, base of the tentacles and around the mouth opening. These nerve cells react to various stimuli, for example, cells near the mouth are able to distinguish substances, but do not respond to mechanical influence, and cells on the sole do not respond to chemical exposure, but are mechanically sensitive.

Most anemones have a naked body, but sea trumpet anemones have a chitinous cover, their leg looks like a tube, which is why they are called “tubular”. The bodies of some sea anemones are covered with grains of sand and various building material, which make the cover more durable.

The color is so diverse that even representatives of the same species can have different shades. Sea anemones can be all the colors of the rainbow: pink, red, green, orange, white and the like. Often the edges of the tentacles have a contrasting color. The body sizes of anemones vary over a wide range.

The body height of the smallest one, gonactinia, is 2-3 mm, the largest is the carpet anemone, with a diameter of up to 1.5 meters, and the height of the metridium sea anemone reaches 1 meter.

Distribution and habitats of sea anemones

Sea anemones live in all oceans and seas. Most of these animals are concentrated in subtropical and tropical zones, but they are also found in the polar regions. For example, in the seas of the North Arctic Ocean lives the sea pink or metridium senile.

The habitats are quite diverse: from the depths of the ocean to the surf zone. Few species of sea anemones live at ocean depths of more than 1000 meters. Although sea anemones are mostly marine animals, certain species can live in fresh water. There are 4 species of sea anemones in the Black Sea, one species lives in the Sea of Azov.

Anemone lifestyle

Anemones that live in shallow water often have microscopic algae in their tentacles, giving them green tint and supplying them with nutrients. These sea anemones live in illuminated places and are active mainly during the day, as they depend on the photosynthesis of algae. And certain species cannot tolerate light at all. Sea anemones that live in the tidal zone have a clear daily regime, which is associated with the time of drying and flooding of the territory.

All sea anemones can be divided into 3 types according to their lifestyle: swimming, sessile and burrowing. Most sea anemones are sessile, the burrowing ones include the genera Haloclava, Edwardsia and Peachia, and only the genus Minyas is swimming.

Sea anemones are attached to the bottom using the so-called “sole”.

Sedentary sea anemones, contrary to their name, are capable of moving slowly. As a rule, they begin to move if something does not suit them, for example, lighting or lack of food. Sea anemones move in several ways. Some species arch their body and attach themselves to the ground with their oral disc, then tear off their leg and move it to a new place. Sessile jellyfish move in a similar way. Other species move their sole, alternately tearing off sections of it from the ground. And the third way is that sea anemones lie on their sides and crawl like worms, while different parts of the leg contract.

In fact, burrowing sea anemones do not burrow that often. They sit most of their lives, and they are called burrowers because they can burrow into the ground, and only the corolla of the tentacle remains visible from the outside. In order to dig a hole, sea anemone acts quite in an interesting way: collects water in the oral cavity, and alternately pumps it to one end of the body, and then to the other, so it goes deeper, like a worm, into the ground.

Sessile small gonactinia is sometimes capable of swimming; during swimming, it rhythmically moves its tentacles, its movements are similar to contraction of the dome. Floating species float passively on the water with the help of pneumocystis, and move with the help of the current.

Relationships between sea anemones and other marine inhabitants

Anemones lead a solitary lifestyle, but if conditions are favorable, then these polyps unite in colonies, forming beautiful flowering gardens. Basically, sea anemones do not show interest in their relatives, but some of them have a quarrelsome disposition. When these anemones touch a relative, they attack it with stinging cells, which cause tissue necrosis.

But sea anemones often get along well with other species of animals. The most a shining example symbiosis is the life of sea anemones and clown fish. Fish take care of polyps, cleaning them from food debris and various garbage, and sea anemones eat the remains of the clown fish’s prey. And shrimp often find shelter from enemies and food in the tentacles of sea anemones.

Sea anemones - beneficial organisms. They live in tropical and subtropical waters.

The relationship between adamsia sea anemones and hermit crabs is even better established. Only young Adamsia live independently, and then hermit crabs find them and attach them to their shells. In this case, the sea anemone is attached with its oral disc forward, thanks to which it gets food particles from the soil churned up by cancer. And sea anemone protects crayfish from enemies. Moreover, when a crayfish changes its home, it transfers the sea anemone to a new shell. If the cancer has not found its sea anemone, it tries to take it away from its fellow.

Feeding sea anemones

Some sea anemones send everything that touches their tentacles into the oral cavity, even pebbles and other inedible objects, while others spit out what cannot be eaten.

Polyps feed on various animal foods. Some species filter water and extract organic debris from it, while others hunt larger prey - small fish. For the most part, sea anemones feed on algae.

Anemone reproduction

Reproduction in sea anemones can occur sexually and asexually. Asexual reproduction occurs due to longitudinal division, in this case two individuals are produced from one individual. This method of reproduction is found in the most primitive sea anemones, gonactinia. A mouth is formed in the middle of the leg of these sea anemones, after which the animal splits into two independent organisms. Since sea anemones are capable of asexual reproduction, they have a high ability to regenerate tissue: sea anemones quickly restore lost body parts.

Most sea anemones are dioecious. But there are no differences between male and female sea anemones. In certain species of sea anemones, both female and male reproductive cells can simultaneously form.

The process of fertilization in sea anemones can occur in the gastric cavity or in external environment.

In the first week of life, anemone larvae move freely in the water, due to which they are carried over long distances by the current. In some species, larvae develop in special pockets that are located on the bodies of the mother.

sea anemone– lat. Actiniaria, a member of the phylum Coelenterata, belongs to the class Coral Polyps. Sea anemones or sea anemones- solitary invertebrate animals.

Structure

Sea anemones have a large number smooth tentacles. The number of tentacles is a multiple of six. The number of septa of the gastrovascular cavity is also a multiple of six. The appearance of tentacles occurs gradually. In sea anemones, many planes of symmetry can be drawn, with the presence large number tentacles and septa.

Animal characteristics:

Height: average height sea anemone is 2 – 4 cm.

Diameter: The average diameter of sea anemones is 3 – 7 cm.

Color: sea anemones have colorful shapes different colors, mostly red and green, less often brown. Colorless sea anemones are also found.

Movement and nutrition

Movement is very slow and is carried out thanks to the muscular sole. Sea anemones are able to settle on the shells of hermit crabs and live in symbiosis with them. Cancer plays the role of a vehicle. They mainly feed on mollusks, crayfish, small fish and other marine invertebrates, therefore sea anemones are predatory animals.

Reproduction and habitat

Sea anemones are dioecious animals. The formation of the gonads occurs in the septa or tentacles. Sea anemones are found in the northern seas, and they can also be seen in the Black Sea.

Sources:

B.N. Orlov - Poisonous animals and plants of the USSR, 1990.

Sea anemones are common in the coastal waters of all seas of the world. Most of these animals, varied in shape and color, live on the coral reefs of the tropical zone.

   Type - Coelenterates
   Class - Hydroid
   Family - Actiniaria

Basic data:
DIMENSIONS
Length: from a few centimeters to a meter and even more in diameter.

REPRODUCTION
Asexual: division or budding.
Sexual: by releasing eggs and sperm into the water where free-swimming larvae develop or by internal fertilization.

LIFESTYLE
Habits: individuals lead sedentary image life on the seabed or other solid surface.
Food: depending on the species, from plankton to medium-sized fish.

RELATED SPECIES
Sea anemones, together with corals, belong to the hydroid class, which unites about 6,500 species.

Brightly colored sea anemones with thin tentacles are one of the most beautiful marine inhabitants. For careless fish and other small sea animals that, through their carelessness, find themselves very close, the embrace of the sea anemone’s burning tentacles means inevitable death.

FOOD

Sea anemones do not feed on plant or animal food. They capture food using tentacles. Small species open tentacles that are overgrown with small hairs. The movement of water caused by the influx brings microorganisms into the mouth.
Big views They grab fish and crustaceans, which they kill with the poison of the pitiful cells. Sea anemone has peculiar organs. The muscular pharynx leads from the oral opening to the gastric cavity. When food enters it, digestive juice begins to secrete from the openings of the glands. After nutrients get into the tissue.

DESCRIPTION OF ANEMONE

Sea anemones are a group of soft-bodied animals that are associated with polyps. Sea anemones and corals belong to the class of coral polyps. Like all other coelenterates, they have a very simple body structure. It is based on one outer and one inner layer of cells. The inner layer, or endoderm, limits the gastric cavity of the body, which has one opening. Through it, the sea anemone receives food and excretes waste.
The outer layer, or ectoderm, consists of large quantity thin tentacles that grow around the mouth opening located at the top of the body. The tentacles have a myriad of tiny cells that serve to protect themselves and capture prey. Sea anemones have limited mobility, so they spend their entire lives attached to the seabed, rocks and coral. The disc on the underside of the anemone's sole secretes a sticky substance (the so-called cement), which allows it to stay on the rocks despite sea currents, ebbs and flows. Anemones cannot walk, but with the help of muscle contractions they can move their tentacles.

REPRODUCTION

Sea anemones can reproduce in several ways. They rarely reproduce by budding. More often, sea anemones are divided into several parts. In other species, part of the sole is separated, from which a new sea anemone grows. Some reproduce sexually. There are individuals that, being hermaphrodites, secrete both eggs and sperm. Other species are dioecious. Eggs and sperm are released in huge quantities into the water, where fertilization occurs.
In this case, larvae hatch from fertilized eggs, which then settle to the bottom and develop to the size of adult organisms.

FEATURES OF THE DEVICE

Sea anemones are one of the best examples animal symbiosis, which brings mutual benefit to two organisms, which often belong to different systematic types. Sea anemones are armed with stinging cells that can spray paralyzing poison. Some types of sea anemones often stick to the shell of a hermit crab. The hermit crab, with the help of sea anemones, protects itself from enemies who are scared away by the burning tentacles of the sea anemone, and it, in turn, feeds on the remains of its food. Numerous species of small coral fish live among the tentacles of sea anemones. The most famous of them is the clown fish. These fish protect their bodies from the pathetic tentacles of sea anemones with a layer of mucus. The coexistence of clownfish and sea anemones benefits both sides: the sea anemones provide the fish with reliable shelter, and in exchange they feed very brave hunters.

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

Some sea anemones dig holes in bottom sandy sediments or in sand, and there they wait for prey.
Sea anemones of the genus Tealia are difficult to notice. They are perfectly camouflaged, covering themselves with sand and fragments of shells.
Sea anemones are not always small. Species living off the coast of Australia can be more than a meter in diameter.
From an evolutionary point of view, sea anemones are very primitive. They do not have a brain, and the nerve fibers make up a network of sea anemones that connect the sense organs directly to the muscles.
The scientific name of some sea anemones - Anemonia - comes from the name of the anemone flower.

WATCHING ANEMONE

On the coast of the Baltic and North Seas There are several species of sea anemones. Very common are sea anemones of the genus Tealia, small green or brown sea anemones that live in the tidal zone. At high tide you can see their tentacles open. The largest sea anemones are found only on great depth. It has many delicate pink or white tentacles. In the Black Sea, you can mainly see the reddish-brown or greenish horse anemone (Actinia equina), which is attached to the stones.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF ANEMONES

   Sole: the underside of the body secretes a cement-like substance with which sea anemones attach to the soil.
   Tentacles: they grab prey and bring it to the mouth; have stinging cells.
   Mouth opening: contains microscopic hairs. Thanks to them, water circulates around the body.
   Mucus: needed to catch prey.

PLACES OF ACCOMMODATION
Sea anemones live in almost all seas of the world, most often in tropical waters.
SAVE
The sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, which lives in a salty environment, is rare in Europe today due to drainage and pollution of waters. Some tropical species threatened with extinction due to the destruction of coral reefs.

Yellow sand, waves hitting the shore, tropical trees, and the water in the sea is so transparent that stones and... flowers are visible at the bottom. Flowers?

But how can they grow underwater? This doesn't happen! Although this statement can still be argued. Indeed, you were not mistaken, at the bottom of the sea you can see sea inhabitants of extraordinary beauty - anemones, which got their name for their resemblance to the Anemone flower.

But here animals are like flowers. Anemone is not a plant, but an animal, better known to all of us as.

Anemones or sea anemones- close relatives of corals, but if corals are colonies of polyps, anemones are large polyps themselves.

Their structure is very simple and has undergone minor changes over millions of years, they are practically a “skin bag” that is inflated with water, which gives them a certain shape.

Attached to the bottom or to rocks and shells lying on the bottom, sea anemones gracefully sway their “petals,” like flowers in the wind.

The cylindrical stalk body ends at the top with a delicate corolla of numerous tentacle petals.

And what colors are not found in nature: pink, green, blue, yellow, purple and violet.

Their size sometimes does not exceed a few millimeters, and sometimes reaches 15 centimeters. It all depends on the type of sea anemone, and there are not many of them, no less than 1500, found in almost all seas of the world, except the Caspian and Aral Sea.

They live in arctic latitudes and on the equator, in the sands on the shore and in areas deprived of light. sea depths over 10,000 meters. However, most species of sea anemones prefer shallow coastal shallow waters and water with fairly high salinity. Some species have a sucker-like leg for attaching to something, while others burrow their legs into the soil. Over the course of a million-year existence, they have undergone little change.

But such beauty is far from safe for others sea creatures.

The sea anemone is carnivorous. As soon as a small fish or shrimp touches the “petals” of a plant, or rather it would be more correct to call it an animal from now on, it will immediately receive a share of a strong paralyzing poison. Next, the tentacles direct the prey to the center of the corolla, to the mouth opening, where the juice of the pharynx and stomach finally deals with it.

Also, the tentacles serve not only as a source of food, but also as a protector from larger sea inhabitants that are not averse to feasting on sea anemones. Among sea anemones there are: peaceful views which suck nutrients from sea water, and predators.

And there are such “smart” predator anemones that can distinguish between edible and inedible, and there are others, especially hungry ones, who drag everything into their mouths indiscriminately, even objects that are dangerous to them.

It seems that the sea anemone is such a small bloodthirsty monster at the bottom of the seas, and the desire to touch the wonder with your hands immediately disappeared. And for good reason.

There are giant anemones (Stoichactis, Condylactis spp.) and trumpet anemones (Pachycerianthus spp.) that have dangerous stinging appendages and should not be touched with bare hands, especially sensitive places, like the outer part of the elbow or the back of the hand. One touch can cause a burn, like a poisonous jellyfish.