''Corynactis californica'' is a brightly colored colonial

anthozoa Anthozoa is one of the three subphyla of Cnidaria, along with Medusozoa and Endocnidozoa. It includes Sessility (motility), sessile marine invertebrates and invertebrates of brackish water, such as sea anemones, Scleractinia, stony corals, soft c ...

n corallimorph. Unlike the Atlantic true sea anemone, ''

Actinia fragacea ''Actinia'' is a genus of sea anemones in the family Actiniidae. Actinia display a rare form of heteromorphosis in which a cut inflicted on a specimen can develop into a second mouth. Species The following 63 species are listed in the World Re ...

'', that bears the same common name, strawberry anemone, this species is a member of the order

Corallimorpharia Corallimorpharia is an order of marine cnidarians closely related to stony or reef building corals ( Scleractinia). They occur in both temperate and tropical climates, although they are mostly tropical. Temperate forms tend to be very robust, wi ...

, and is the only member found on the west coast of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. Other common names include club-tipped anemone and strawberry corallimorpharian. The anemone can live up to at least deep on vertical rock walls, and at the bottom of

kelp forest Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on E ...

s. It is known to carpet the bottom of some areas, like Campbell River in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, and

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by about 75 miles (120 km), accessible via California S ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Description

The strawberry anemone grows no larger than . The anemone can be red, pink, purple, brown, yellow, or completely white. They possess

tentacle In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...

s that are white or transparent with bulbous tips. The strawberry anemone resembles

sea anemone Sea anemones ( ) are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates constituting the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemone ...

s in that they lack a

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...

skeleton, but are closer related to

stony corals Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mo ...

in that they lack basilar muscles. This species lacks photosynthetic symbionts. The strawberry anemone is known to reproduce both sexually and asexually, with asexual reproduction used to cover more available ground. The anemone is known to attack other species of sea anemone and

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

that they are competitive with, as to take over the areas left behind by the previous occupants. They attack with

toxin A toxin is a naturally occurring poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. They occur especially as proteins, often conjugated. The term was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849–1919), derived ...

s passed through prolonged contact. The same method is used in self-defense and in food consumption.

Reproduction

The strawberry anemone can reproduce both sexually and asexually through fission and budding. It is

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

, and produces both egg strings and testicular cysts in sync through all

polyps A polyp in zoology is one of two forms found in the phylum Cnidaria, the other being the medusa. Polyps are roughly cylindrical in shape and elongated at the axis of the vase-shaped body. In solitary polyps, the aboral (opposite to oral) en ...

in a clone. The

gamete A gamete ( ) is a Ploidy#Haploid and monoploid, haploid cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization in organisms that Sexual reproduction, reproduce sexually. Gametes are an organism's reproductive cells, also referred to as s ...

s are stored in the mesoglea, in the gastrovascular cavity. They are typically produced in an annual cycle between August and November, and are spawned from late November to mid-December. Gametes are released into the surrounding water, where they form

embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...

s that turn into

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

ic larvae within 2–3 days.

Behavior

The strawberry anemone has been shown to attack competing species of sea anemone and coral when in prolonged contact with them. Attacks are conducted after prolonged contact between the strawberry anemone's tentacles and rival species. The attack is done through releasing their

mesenteries In human anatomy, the mesentery is an organ that attaches the intestines to the posterior abdominal wall, consisting of a double fold of the peritoneum. It helps (among other functions) in storing fat and allowing blood vessels, lymphatics, a ...

and attaching their mesenterial filaments, thin white strings that contain

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

s and toxins, with the rival species. With prolonged contact, they are able to kill off these species, and asexually reproduce to take over the space left behind. However, the strawberry anemone does not attack other members of its own species, a unique trait amongst surrounding anemone species. The strawberry anemone also used their mesenterial filaments for other reasons, including assisting in the consumption of larger prey, or as a self-defence mechanism against predators such as '' Dermasterias imbricata.''

Habitat

Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary diver swims past strawberry anemones and orange hydroids

Studies conducted on ''Corynactis californica'' suggest that the anemone grows well under the canopies of

macroalgae Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of Macroscopic scale, macroscopic, Multicellular organism, multicellular, ocean, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Brown algae, Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ...

rather than outside of them. Species of macroalgae that the strawberry anemone live under include ''

Macrocystis pyrifera ''Macrocystis'' is a monospecific genus of kelp (large brown algae) with all species now synonymous with ''Macrocystis pyrifera''. It is commonly known as giant kelp or bladder kelp. This genus contains the largest of all the Phaeophyceae or br ...

'' and ''

Eisenia arborea ''Eisenia arborea'', or the southern sea palm (not to be confused with the sea palm), is a dominant species of kelp that is found on the western Pacific coast of North America, from Vancouver Island, Canada south to Mexico's Isla Magdalena and ...

''. ''Eisenia arborea'' may assist the anemone in protecting planktonic larvae, and directing food particles to polyps.

References

*Carlgren, O. (1949). A survey of Ptychodactiaria, Corallimorpharia, and Actiniaria. Kungl. ''Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar'' 1: 1–121. * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2998200 Corallimorphidae Anthozoa of the United States Cnidarians of the Pacific Ocean Fauna of California Marine fauna of North America Natural history of the Channel Islands of California Western North American coastal fauna Animals described in 1936