help identify mertinsi carpet

[anemoneguy]

hey guys, i just got what was to be a brown mertins carpet from a vendor here on rc. what i got was a green (under my lighting) gigantia carpet. when i talked to the person who sold it to me i asked if it was a true mertinsi because i know they are rare and he said he had just gotten alot of them. i asked about the color of the foot since i know they are unlike other carpets. he said this was a different more un seen version. anyway before i call them on monday i was hoping for help on how to truly tell a mertinsi carpet. i will keep posted on vendor exp. after i give them a chance to explain. thanks for any help.

 

[catastrofe]

The 2 best ways to identify a mertens are longer tentacles near the mouth and orange verucae. Giganteas almost always have purple verucae.


How about some pictures?

 

[Flighty]

They have orange spots on the base that get very dense as you get closer to the foot, almost turning into solid stripes.

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Flighty/SMartensiiAtLFS/photo#4951276323569926162"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/image/Flighty/RLZ3lVMwABI/AAAAAAAAAFI/Jr8Fo2__hDA/s288/dsc09677.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:66%; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Flighty/SMartensiiAtLFS">S.martensii a...</a></td></tr></table> Click for more pics

 

[phender]

Mertens carpets don't always have the longer tentacles near the mouth. Smaller ones almost never have them and even in the wild, larger ones don't always have the longer tentacles near the mouth.
Sometimes the spot under a mertens are purple but they usually continue to the foot and become more red.
If the the tentacles in the middle of the anemone all are branched, it is C. adhaesivum.

If you could post a few pics, we could ID it pretty quickly. A pic of the overall anemone is good along with a pic under the disk.

Getting in a lot of small mertensi is a little suspicious in itself.

Here are some pics of my two.
Shot of the foot and under disk showing the normal orange spotting

Small mertens showing the even distribution of blunt tentacles

Large mertens showing the typical lack of structure. They sort of drape themselves on the rocks

Slightly unusual magenta spots that are more dense and elongated than those of gigantea.

Same anemone showing how the magenta verrucae spots become red on the foot.

To contradict his, "this was a different more un seen version" we will need some pics from you.

 

[anemoneguy]

thanks for the input and the cool pics. i will try to get some pics and post them as soon as i can. my son has my camera with him at college so i will have to barrow one. i will say the anemone i have doesnt appear like any of the pics you guys have posted. one interesting factor that maybe some one has seen before is a month ago my lfs got in some purple gigantia anemoes and the tenticals were all over the anemone all the way to the mouth. then a week later when i went back to see about getting one they all were taking a turn for the worse. around the mouth and into the body of the anemone the tenticals seemed to be gone and large "bald" areas were now where the tenticals used to be and they were all gaping very badly. this is exactly what is happening to the one i have. i may have to remove it soon because i dont want any problem spreading to my lovly rose bta or my nice dark with purple tip crispa both of which ive had over a year now. again guys thinks for your help. i hope all goes well with the vendor on this.