Opinions on Anemone ID

[catastrofe]

Calling on Bonzainut, Gary, Phil, Minh, Rod, etc. . .

What do you think. . .gigantea or mertens? Purple verucae, and tentacles move on their own like wiggling worms say gigantea. Longer tentacles toward the mouth say mertens. Very sticky, immediate and strong feeding response.

Opinions?

<img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yx4r04&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1>

 

[OrionN]

Phil have keep both so his opinion is your best bet. I think it is a Gigantea. Nice color. Good luck.

 

[Flighty]

I don't know, but ship it to me

My guess would be gigantea.

 

[MJI]

From the basic field notes, I would lean Gigantea too..

 

[phender]

I would say gigantea as well from that picture.

FWIW: it is not unusual for giganteas tentacles to vary in length on a single animal. The verrucae on a mertens are usually magenta or orange, not purple. In addition the colored verrucae usually become reddish orange spots or stripes on the column and become more dense as they continue to the foot on a mertens. The column of the mertens is also very thin and weak compared to a haddoni or gigantea.
Pic of a mertens foot

 

[Flighty]

link to some mertens id photos
<div style="text-align:center; width:194px; font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:83%;"><div style="height:194px;background:url(http://picasaweb.google.com/f/img/album_background.gif) no-repeat left;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Flighty/SMartensiiAtLFS"><img src="http://lh6.google.com/Flighty/RLZ3cEO0ABE/AAAAAAAAAGw/jhC-_dDaZWc/SMartensiiAtLFS.jpg?crop=1&imgmax=160" width="160" height="160" style="border:none;padding-top:16px;"></a></div><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Flighty/SMartensiiAtLFS"><div style="color:#4D4D4D;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;">S.martensi<wbr></wbr>i at LFS</div></a><div style="color:#808080">Jun 1, 2006 - 27 Photos</div></div>

 

[catastrofe]

Thanks guys (and girl). I was in the gigantea camp myself but wanted a second (and third, fourth, etc.) opinion.

Cindy that's a beautiful mertens. . .

 

[OrionN]

keep us update on how he is doing please.

 

[catastrofe]

Will do Minh. . .one week and counting.

 

[catastrofe]

I've hit the 2+ month mark, so I thought I'd post some updated pictures. The original photos were under a combination of 10K and actinic. I changed to pure 10K in an effort to increase PAR.



<img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yjtvvl&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1>

<img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yjtvvm&outx=600&quality=70>

<img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yjtvvn&outx=600&quality=70>

<img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yjtvvp&outx=600&quality=70>

<img src=http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yjtvvo&outx=600&quality=70>

 

[phender]

The carpet looks great. Do you have two now or did the original split? Or maybe its just folded funny in the rock.

 

[OrionN]

It looks like it split into two. Is it or it just photo point of view?

 

[catastrofe]

Phil, I actually have 3. The 1st, 2nd, and 5th pics are 2 that are next to each other and the 3rd and 4th pics are of the third on the other side of the tank.

 

[OrionN]

Looking back at the original picture, I can see that there are three anemones. I was excited for a second thinking that you got one that split into two.

 

[phender]

Did you get them all at the same time or did you have some before you posted your original question?

 

[catastrofe]

Got all three at the same time. . .

 

[delphinus]

Re: Opinions on Anemone ID

I missed your thread when it first came up, but I'm going to post one thing about this:

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7910728#post7910728 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by catastrofe
Longer tentacles toward the mouth say mertens.

You know that these are gigantea now anyhow, but FWIW I asked this very question a year or so ago and was told that happy gigantea's have this same feature. Both mine have that (longer tentacles towards the mouth). The difference in one is quite profound, it has tentacles approaching 3" in length.

 

[BonsaiNut]

Awww I missed the original post

At any rate, as everyone has pointed out, those are S. giganteae. Very nice looking, and the clowns must be loving them

 

[Rod Buehler]

I also missed. Im glad that everyone seems to be doing well

 

[OrionN]

Update please.
Do you have any problem with three of them in the same tank touching each other?