Image: Nick Hobgood Heteractis magnifica |
I'm sick of my house plants, especially now that they're all brown and don't answer when I talk to them any more. Where can I get myself a big sack of tentacles? A big, beautiful sack brimming and bulging with tentacles?
Image: Bart de Goeij Opened up into full magnificence |
That's a bit of problem for me. I can't even remember to water house plants once a week. What will I do with something that has to be submerged in the stuff at all times? I dread to think...
Image: Tim Sheerman-Chase |
While they can be found in shallow, sunny waters, the biggest ones live in gloomier depths of 20 metres (60 feet), occasionally more.
Image: James Lynott |
To top it off, these gigantic sea anemones like to hang out in big groups on rocky ground. It's a deadly field of Magnificent, venomous tentacles.
Image: Bernard DUPONT |
Like lots of other sea anemones, the Magnificent variety is packed full of friendly micro-organisms known as zooxanthellae. In shallow waters these zooxanthellae can get lots of sun to power their photosynthesis. And, as it turns out, the waste products of photosynthesis are good eating for a sea anemone.
But it doesn't end there. Magnificent Sea Anemones are real pillars of the community. Or tentacle-sacks of the community, to be more precise.
Video: REEF2REEF
Clownfish, also known as Anemonefish, are covered in a slime that allows them to touch a sea anemone's tentacles without getting stung. So that's what they do. And Magnificent Sea Anemones are a favourite home for many species of Anemonefish. After all, if you're going to live in a tentacle cottage, it may as well be a magnificent one.
So the Anemonefish chases away polychaete worms and other pests that might nibble on even the mightiest of sea anemones. In return, the fish gets a safe place to stay. And, it turns out fish poo is pretty good fertilizer for all that zooxanthelae.
Now it's not so much a deadly field as a delightful garden.
Image: Bernard DUPONT A mouth! |
Image: Chaloklum Diving |
Image: jome jome |
There are many sides to the Magnificent Sea Anemone. And one of them is a backside.
3 comments:
i retreat into my own mind-blob quite often. :)
Me too! I love a bit of time relaxing in the old mind-blob!
Vivid neon blobs and tentacles inspire me too! Thank you sacred beings of the mysterious sea and to you who appreciate such fine natural beauty!
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