''Peachia quinquecapitata'', also known as the twelve-tentacled parasitic anemone, is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
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 ...
in the family
Haloclavidae. It is found in the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...
of North America. The larva is parasitic on certain species of
Anthomedusae.
[
]
Description
''Peachia quinquecapitata'' lives with its elongated column buried in the sand and its twelve tentacles fanned out on the surface. The oral disc is red and the translucent tentacles are banded with buff and brown in a chevron pattern. Like other members of the genus '' Peachia'', it has a "conchula", an enlargement on the lip by its mouth, which in this species is divided into five lobes.[
]
Distribution
''Peachia quinquecapitata'' is found in shallow seas in the Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...
of the United States including Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...
.
Life cycle
The life cycle of ''Peachia quinquecapitata'' was investigated in the laboratory. Spawning was induced by manipulating light levels. The eggs had a diameter of 120 μm and, after fertilisation, developed into planula
A planula is the free-swimming, flattened, ciliated, bilaterally symmetric larval form of various cnidarian species and also in some species of Ctenophores, which are not related to cnidarians at all. Some groups of Nemerteans also produce larva ...
larvae. Some of the larvae were ingested by the medusa
In Greek mythology, Medusa (; ), also called Gorgo () or the Gorgon, was one of the three Gorgons. Medusa is generally described as a woman with living snakes in place of hair; her appearance was so hideous that anyone who looked upon her wa ...
, ''Phialidium gregarium'' (now classified as '' Clytia gregaria''), and only they continued to develop in the laboratory setting.[ At first they fed on food particles in the gastrovascular cavity of the jellyfish but after 11 days they developed parasitic habits and began to feed on their hosts' ]gonad
A gonad, sex gland, or reproductive gland is a Heterocrine gland, mixed gland and sex organ that produces the gametes and sex hormones of an organism. Female reproductive cells are egg cells, and male reproductive cells are sperm. The male gon ...
s, moving on later to other tissues. One anemone larva was able to consume a gonad completely in two days.
The Jellies Zone. Retrieved 2011-10-09. The prevalence of infection in the jellyfish ''Clytia gregaria'' at Friday Harbor, Washington
Friday Harbor is a town in San Juan County, Washington, San Juan County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 2,613 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on San Juan Island, Friday Harbor is the majo ...
peaks in the spring at 62%.[
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1933322
Haloclavidae
Animals described in 1913