stumped on anemone ID

[Flighty]

so folks, what is this tiny little guy? He isn't much bigger than a ricordia mushroom. There was a pink skunk hosting at the store despite the fact that there was a large LTA in the same tank.

The anemone was on the glass and had climbed to the water line even though there were decent lights on the tank.

The tentacles are extremely reactive and mobile. When the current is turned off you can still see them constantly moving and vibrating similar to a mertain's carpet's tentacles. They aren't particularly sticky. When I moved it from the bag to the tank the foot stuck to my hand much stronger than the tentacles.

There are no visible verrucae (sp?) and no dots of color on the foot.

It is hard to see in the pics, but there is a bit of non tentacled space around the mouth.

The food in the pic is regular PE mysis to give you scale.

It had been in the store for a while and has grown a bit. I just put it in the tank and will add more pics as it settles in if things change but this is about how it looked in the store anyway.

 

[traveller7]

Similar to another two we never really reached a full ID on...two of us had them. Column, size, actions, and tentacles look similar.

Any idea on the original source of this one?

fwiw: I always come back to thinking distressed helianthus as a possibility, but was unable to get mine to grow out, develop visible verrucae, etc.

 

[Flighty]

I have no history on it. The LFS was not even sure what to charge me because they didn't know what they had it listed as.

Did yours ever play host to clownfish? I always thought the helianthus were big stingers and fish killers.

I did see some floressent green splotches on the column close to the bottom. They are sporradic and there are only a few. They look almost exactly like someone hit it with a highlighter pen by accident. I didn't see them before, so they might just be visible under actinics.

 

[traveller7]

Sounds very similiar to mine.
Clowns did not go near mine.

 

[tpdpercula]

Possibly a close relative to a Atlantic Carpet. I have never seen one like it before but it is very attractive though. I would be curious to know its identiy.

 

[Flighty]

Just a bump on this one so I remember to add a video link later. This anemone continues to baffle me, The pink skunks have chosen it as a home instead of their previous hosts, two larger BTAs. It has gotten more reactive(if that is the right term) The tentacles constantly twitch and move in coordinated waves. It frequently almost convulses and pulls in on itself or will swell up and take odd shapes.

I'll get the video up in a minute, but it shows the anemone with the clowns (they are tiny babies, don't mistake the scale. Any more id thoughts?

Edit: you think I would have learned how to spell tenticle by now

 

[Flighty]

Here is a pic while the video is uploading to youtube- you may need to click to see it.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/FlightyMail/Oddball/photo#5164809079898852514"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/FlightyMail/R60WfmwVTKI/AAAAAAAADSM/9ZDsulv-4l4/s400/DSC08834.JPG" /></a>

 

[Flighty]

Here we go, the color of the video is awefull, but this is it convulsing after the clown brushes it. There is no flow at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGpsd9vOAI8

Another under actinics. This one there is also no flow nor is there food in the water. The clown is not touching the anemone in this video, so all of the movement is just the anemone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drs4KtzD1xU

 

[garygb]

It looks almost like H. crispa in the video. Could it be? Whatever it is, it looks very healthy and attractive.

 

[Flighty]

I admit I'm not very familiar with crispas, but I have never seen the tentacles get much longer than about an inch at the most on this guy. They are also very narrow and more dense (carpet like)

It has the right color for a helianthus, but I can't find enough pics to get a good idea of how they really look. The behaviour and having the clowns dig it don't seem to fit.

Hmm... still stumped

 

[garygb]

Yeah, helianthus, I thought, had stubbier tentacles and never hosted. In those first pics it really doesn't look like H. crispa, it just kinda does in the video, but it's probably not that species. Hopefully someone will recognize the species and id it. Until then, enjoy it as your clowns obviously are.

 

[traveller7]

I have yet to see a Helianthus exhibiting tentacle structure as recently posted, but I am eager to track that specimens progress and see what it looks like in another 6 months. Feed it heavy and see what happens

edit: wow typo city

 

[delphinus]

Quite attractive anemone, whatever it is. In the videos it looks just like a H. crispa to me, although of course the habit of perching on top of the rock would rule that out, you'd think..

 

[Amphiprion]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11807636#post11807636 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by traveller7
I have yet to see a Helianthus exhibiting tentacle structure as recently posted, but I am eager to track that specimens progress and see what it looks like in another 6 months. Feed it heavy and see what happens

edit: wow typo city

That fits the tentacle structure of about 98% of the ones I've seen... assuming we are talking about S. helianthus.

 

[phender]

I used to see these a lot about 10 years ago. They came in from the South Pacific but all I ever remember them being called was reef anemones or flower anemones. I know that doesn't help much, but that's all I got.

 

[Amphiprion]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11814635#post11814635 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phender
I used to see these a lot about 10 years ago. They came in from the South Pacific but all I ever remember them being called was reef anemones or flower anemones. I know that doesn't help much, but that's all I got.

But, hey, that's further than anyone else has gotten.

 

[Flighty]

Wild. I wonder how big it can get and if it hosts anything in the ocean.