Haloclavidae is a
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of
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. Members of the family are found worldwide and many live largely buried in soft substrates with only their oral disc and tentacles protruding.
Characteristics
Members of this family mostly have elongated columns which are often differentiated into different regions. The column is either smooth or has tubercles or suckers on its surface. The base is often rounded and used for digging but in some species it is flattened and adhesive to small objects. There is usually no sphincter but when one is present, it is endodermal. The tentacles are short and there are seldom more than 48, arranged cyclically. The
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 ...
or internal tissue walls are few. There are no muscles attaching them to the basal disc but they do have strong retractor muscles. At least six pairs of the mesenteries are perfect, reaching from the base as far as the actinopharynx or throat of the anemone. There is a single, well defined
siphonoglyph The siphonoglyph is a ciliated groove at one or both ends of the mouth of sea anemones and some corals. The siphonoglyph extends into a pharynx and is used to create currents of water into the pharynx. These water currents are important for respirat ...
, a ciliated groove, which is often elongated and nearly detached from the rest of the actinopharynx.
Genera
According to the World Register of Marine Species, the family includes the following genera:
*''
Anemonactis''
*''
Antennapeachia''
Izumi, Yanagi & Fujita, 2016
*''
Eloactis''
*''
Haloclava''
Verrill, 1899
*''
Harenactis''
*''
Ilyanthus''
Forbes, 1840
*''
Mesacmaea''
Andres, 1883
*''
Metapeachia''
*''
Oractis''
McMurrich, 1893
*''
Peachia''
Gosse, 1855
*''
Philomedusa''
*''
Siphonactinia''
*''
Stephanthus''
*''
Synpeachia''
Yap, Fautin, Ramos & Tan, 2014
References
Actinioidea
Cnidarian families
{{actiniaria-stub