Mystery Anemone

[Finsky]

I have two regular brown/green long tentacled anemones and then I have a third which I have had for two years which was sold as a long tentacled by Petco although said they could not be sure it was an LTA. It has been wedged between the substrate and a large piece of live rock in a three inch crevice between the live rocks in the front of the tank. It did come out last summer during a heat wave when I did not have air conditioning and sat by itself in the middle of the substrate with an orange foot. After a few days the water cooled down and the anemone was back where it had been with its foot wedged between the substrate and the piece of live rock(I now have air conditioniing).

It has tentacles about 1/2" long and it is a blueish white in color, almost translucent, and faces sideways. It takes pieces of razor clam and once grabbed a new 3/4" Black Mouth Damsel withdrew under the rock. It spit it out after the pair of Clarkii clowns got curious and started rubbing until it opened up. I do not think it is bleached, I think this is its natural color and it is about four inches when fully opened. It is difficult to take a picture since it is a few inches back in a crevice.

 

[WDLV]

Pics would be useful.

 

[Finsky]

Blueish White anemone with Clarkii pair hosting

Blueish White anemone with Clarkii pair hosting

This is one picture I have.

 

[WDLV]

I can't see much, but from what I do see I'd guess it to be a very bleached H. crispa.

 

[Finsky]

Mixed breed?

Mixed breed?

Another shot.

Red Rose Bubble Tip Anemone I have had in same tank for 10 months and it is 12 to 14 inches above the substrate and no bleaching?

I have had this anemone for over two years and during a heat wave last summer it moved its foot out from underneath the rock and sat alone in the substrate. It had an orange foot. I lost another anemone in a heat wave last summer and this summer I have gotten air conditioning. I used to have a white Sabae Anemone with purple tips and lost it to a power head.

I was reading in one of Julius Sprungs three volumes of "The Reef Aquarium" and I came across a discussion of interbreeding of anemones such as the Sabae Anemone, another anemone with a last name of something like "malu"? There were two or three anemones mentioned in this interbreeding. I also was looking at pictures of a "Rock Anemone"?

I have 644 watts of power compacts and thinking of the Red Rose BTA, this anemone has a good bit of bluish/purplish tint in it which is not very clear in the pictures which I think is due to the lights reflecting off the anemone. It eats one or two half inch squares of razor clam per week so I wonder if it is not really bleached and this bluish/purplish tint is its photosynthetic algae? I wonder if it is a mixed breed? I purchased it as a Long Tentacled Anemone although it was different in color to the other ones which were brown/green and had shorter tentacles. Their reason was they purchased the lot as Long Tentacled Anemones and another species could have come with the batch.

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

From the second picture you can tell it is an extremely bleached BTA

 

[ocellaris123]

Kind of looks like a LTA (M. doreensis) to me.

 

[Finsky]

ocellaris123:

You might have something there as I Googled "m. doreensis" and I read the second search result from the University of Kansas, Chapter One, Sea Anemones. I saw there the "malu" name I had ready about and also, the m.doreensis, which looked similar to the anemone in my tank.

 

[WDLV]

Not malu - all tentacles are of uniform length

Not doreensis - tentacles are too many per square inch

Not quadricolor - they will typically have an orange or green hue when bleached. Not blue like that one.

It is crispa and it is bleached. If it were simply white it would have more of a cream color than a translucent blue-white color.

 

[OrionN]

That look like a M. doreensis (LTA) to me. I often see bleach LTA of that color and if able to become healthy again it is brown with blue tinted. If you see that it have an orange-ish foot, then that would confirm that it is a LTA.
You did mention that it have orange foot so I ma 100% sure that it is a LTA. It should have vertical align white spots on the column. The orange should be more orange near the bottom of the foot and the spots should be more prominent near the oral disk

 

[NirvanaFan]

My first guess was LTA, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Finsky]

LTA and/or Hybrid

LTA and/or Hybrid

It definitely has an orange bottom to its foot as I remember when it withdrew to sit alone on the substrate for a while before inserting its foot back under the live rock in the "exact" same spot it had withdrawn from due to the heat wave. Where the column is visible I am able to see the vertical aligned white spots on the column near the oral disk as mentioned. I just fed the Red Rose BTA and the LTA? After a close look through the aquarium glass for a while I noticed some quite deeper blue on some tentacles than others although the anemone is a bluish white overall. I think it was all white when I purchased it although I would not bet on my memory on that one. I do remember it being different (color and shape?) than the other LTA's for sale and asking Petco if it was an LTA with a response, "they all came in a batch marked LTA's is all we know"?

This anemone has remained in the same spot for two years and it has picked a very low light place in the aquairum other than being in a cave?

I just find it hard to believe it is not in its natural color with enough blue to represent zooxanthellae as it has been eating regularly and actually grabbed one of my 3/4" Black Mouth Damsels a few months ago and has lived for a good two years.

Lebrunia danae, the Branching Anemone. Has stubby, branching "pseudotentacles" (true, longer tentacles are usually only extended at night). Typically brownish to gray in color, a few bluish to green. Common in the tropical West Atlantic. Able to quickly withdraw into its closed space. Will easily sting other livestock, aquarists exposed skin.

 

[marc price]

M. doreenesis "lta"

 

[Finsky]

I have been reading about the M. Doreenesis LTA and am starting to think this may be what I have as it can and does retract completely where it has its foot between a piece of live rock and substrate. I also read about fish snatching and I have seen that happen.

There is one, a purplelish white colored instead of blueish white, for sale at That Pet Place:
Macrodactyla doreensis "Purple Long Tentacle Anemone" - Small