One for Phil...

[BonsaiNut]

Just got back from Fiji. I'll post more photos soon. Here's one for Phil though - I am pretty sure this is a S. gigantea. I wish I could have gotten photos of the verrucae but I was in heavy surf and was juggling two cameras so I just couldn't manage it. I have some video of this anemone that I'll post links to once I get it up on YouTube.

I have seen other S. gigantea photos that claim to have been taken in Fiji, but this is my first "personal" encounter with an anemone in the islands that I am 99% sure is S. gigantea. I took this in approximately 6' of water off a sand bar in the Mamanukas.

 

[clorox]

I'll wait eagerly for the video. I was going to ask you how was the flow around that anemone?

 

[BonsaiNut]

I'll wait eagerly for the video. I was going to ask you how was the flow around that anemone?

Flow was high I would estimate 2' depth at low tide and about 8' depth at high tide. Was right on the reef edge on the top of a wall that dropped vertically to about 80'. This was a fringe reef about 2 miles inside the barrier reef. On the day I visited, there was heavy surge and a decent amount of wind chop so I was having trouble getting good photos. I had to dive down to the anemone and hold onto a rock to try to get still long enough for a photo. There was also a H. malu about 2' from this anemone.

By far the most common anemones I saw were E. quadricolor and H. crispa.

 

[asudavew]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.
How big was it?

 

[BonsaiNut]

How big was it?

About 18". Much smaller than the S. mertensii that I saw.

 

[Yuri Barros]

Awesome fishes........

 

[Reefvette]

dont

dont

Dont hold back Bonsai!

Show us more!!!

 

[JasonD]

Yes!!!

 

[D-Nak]

Thanks for sharing. Very cool. I would've guessed mertensii or haddoni simply based on tentacle length. I rarely see a gigantea with such short tentacles.

 

[phender]

Thanks for the pic.

Based on the tentacles, color and the way that it is draped/molded into the crevice, I would have guessed it was a mertensi, but I wasn't there. I am very jealous. Thanks for sharing.

 

[BonsaiNut]

I would have guessed it was a mertensi, but I wasn't there.

Hard to say... I kept diving down and pushing my camera against the edge of the oral disk but I couldn't get under it. Then I tried to get a good picture of the mouth, but the anemone was in a crack and I couldn't get a shot.

Understand that the surge was really bad, and these anemones (all of them of all species) need to be able to take cover when bad weather hits. A cyclone ripped through here 6 months after my last visit and really impacted the stony corals, but I was able to return and locate 3 anemones that were in the exact same locations as my last visit. I'll post videos in my next thread...

 

[BonsaiNut]

Actually... I just edited one of the videos I took of this anemone and I think I can just barely make out some long interior tentacles in some of the frames.

So I am going to change my ID to mertensii

A nice green one - but still I was hoping it was a gigantea

 

[elegance coral]

My vote is mertensii as well.

And BTW, those chrysopterus are BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I would pay real money for that pair of clowns. I mean the kind of money I'd have to hide from the wife. LOL

 

[DasCamel]

Those clowns sure are gorgeous. I would hate to take them out of the ocean though.

 

[Reefvette]

I would also say mertens but color making me say gig.


Either way its really nice.

If you wanna see some really nice magnifica anemones go to Atlantis Aquarium in river head long island.

 

[BonsaiNut]

If you wanna see some really nice magnifica anemones go to Atlantis Aquarium in river head long island.

In Tahiti you can see miles of them. There are some sections of reef that are extensively covered. I surmise it has something to do with the more protected conditions within the lagoons.