Hi BonsaiNut. Would you say it is worth the money? You have not given too much away yet - how is the read going :reading: ? How much have you learned that you did not already know? Please can you let us know
It depends on how crazy you are about anemones. $200 is a lot for a book. However I have seen people spend that much for a single anemone, or dare I say, a single rare SPS frag. Just about every page reveals something new (at least to me). To me it is certainly worth it.
I just finished the section on cnidae - the little capsular organelles that give anemones their stinging and grabbing functions. While people may be familiar with spirocysts (the "grabbing" cnidae) and nematocysts (the "stinging" cnidae), they may not be as familiar with ptychocysts, which are limited to cerianthids only, and which are used to make cerianthid tubes. The section went on to discuss location of cnidae in anemones and the functions they serve - to capture prey, to defend against attack, to help subdue prey that is being digested, to protect an injured area, etc. For example, in many anemones the area most loaded with nematocysts are the acontia filaments - the stringlike threads located at the bottom of the coelenteron (body cavity). These are generally never seen and are only used when an anemone is eating something, or when it is injured or being attacked.
Then I moved onto a section dealing with anemone toxins - and the general roles as neurotoxins (paralyzing), cytolysins (burning or pain-inducing), and anti-proteinases (anti-coagulants). The first and last groups are being researched a lot for human medical use.
Finally, I read a discussion about why there are no such thing as colonial sea anemones - and it went into depth about the evolutionary development of sea anemones away from related colonial creatures like corals and zooanthids.
This took up 12 pages

With referencing terms and re-reading sections, I am able to "digest" about 10 pages a night. It isn't light reading - but I feel like I am finally starting to better understand these origami creatures
I more or less finished Section I: Overview of Sea Anemones.
I am now moving into Section II: Nutrition.