Is this a Haddoni Anemone?

BeanMachine

Active member
I think this is a Haddoni Carpet Anemone, not Gigantea right? How do you tell the difference?

Its about 5 or 6" across.

CarpetNem.jpg
 
Haddoni. You can differentiate by the tentacles but technically the only real way is to get a look on the underside of the oral disc.
 
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I am on the fence about it. It sort looks like an S. Haddoni, but the color pattern, and the fact that it is up on the rocks is making me pause a bit.
 
Yeah, it could be a Stichodactyla helianthus "caribbean carpet anemone". Those can be purple and green, They also like to be on the rocks. Then again it could be a confused haddoni. No telling without looking under the oral disc. The anemone is very pretty though!
 
I am on the fence about it. It sort looks like an S. Haddoni, but the color pattern, and the fact that it is up on the rocks is making me pause a bit.

Thanks for the input Todd. Actually, I had just placed it there after acclimating it before I realized it should be closer to or in the sandbed. By the next day, it moved down that same rock and is now between the rock and the sandbed where it has stayed the last two days.
 
Yeah, it could be a Stichodactyla helianthus "caribbean carpet anemone". Those can be purple and green, They also like to be on the rocks. Then again it could be a confused haddoni. No telling without looking under the oral disc. The anemone is very pretty though!

I think I may have confused things hehe! I'll do some research on the carribean carpets. Thanks a lot.
 
Is there any chance of getting a picture of the underside of the oral disc?

While they can sometimes be difficult to see (( and seem to show up in larger specimens )), S. Haddonis have very faint and smallish verrucae -- basically little dots. On some of mine you can't even see them.

This is one of mine that has them,

Perc3.jpg
 
My first impression was Stichodactyla helianthus as well. Haddonis don't normally have a puckered mouth like that. You don't see many S. helianthus on the West Coast. Did you buy it at a LFS?
 
Is there any chance of getting a picture of the underside of the oral disc?

While they can sometimes be difficult to see (( and seem to show up in larger specimens )), S. Haddonis have very faint and smallish verrucae -- basically little dots. On some of mine you can't even see them.

This is one of mine that has them,

Perc3.jpg

Let me see what I can do... I can try to snap a pic when I feed it later this afternoon.


My first impression was Stichodactyla helianthus as well. Haddonis don't normally have a puckered mouth like that. You don't see many S. helianthus on the West Coast. Did you buy it at a LFS?

I bought it from a fellow reefer, not sure where it originated. I'll ask him.
 
I bought it from a fellow reefer, not sure where it originated. I'll ask him.

I don't want to put words in Phenders mouth, but I believe he was saying you don't see them in shops on the west coast very often. Not that you don't see them collected from the west coast very often. Helianthus is a Caribbean species, so we know where it originates.

I would be VERY shocked if that anemone is helianthus It's easy to find out though. Helianthus has little brown squares, or checker board markings under the oral disk/upper column. It just looks like a small haddoni in a strange posture to me.
 
It took some searching, but I found a pic that shows the underside of helianthus. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...NyGDg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

I can't get a pic, but I did manage to get a good look at the underside. Its got those horizontal bars, but no spots at all. I looked and looked, tried a magnifying glass, but nothing.

The first pics were just after I acclimated it. The mouth isn't puckered up like that now, and its since moved itself down from the rock and into a crevice between the rock and the sand bed.
 
It is a S. haddoni. S. helianthus have bright veracue underside much like S. gigantea while S. haddoni, like Tood mentioned, have no or very faint veracue.
 
I thought this new picture would help. Thanks for the ID. It has grown since last pics. Might be 8" across. It moved itself from where I originally place it on that rock, down a bit and wedged itself between the sand and rock.... fast forward the last two or three weeks it has moved to the front of the tank.

I sort of shaded it with a frag rack that was supposed to be temorary. I did change some lamps about 3 weeks ago as well. Also added a shrimp. Not sure if that spurred it to move? Most likely the light I'd assume.

Its been in the same position now for three or four days.

I've been feeding it once every couple of weeks. Does that sound ok or should I slow down a bit? I'm doing a cube of bloodworms.

IMG_0888.jpg


Heres is another that I took for fun last week when I got the anemone shrimp.

IMAG0054.jpg
 
Feed him and take a picture of the underside. That is essential for ID. FWIW, I think it is a Haddoni.
 
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