Sagartia elegans

Erling Svensen Can anybody confirm this to be Sagartia elegans? 3-4 cm high, from 10 meters dept, North Norway.

David Fenwick Snr Nice images Erling Svensen

Floris Bennema Yes nice pictures indeed! Sagartia elegans is quite common in the Netherlans too and famous for spiting out its aconita when touched.

George Stoyle Sagartia elegans :: Nikon D700, Nauticam, Inon Z240, 105mm Macro, f/16, 1/200s, ISO400

Barbara Trevisan Outstanding!!!

Gary Peart Beautiful shot

Kerry Netherway Second, (from the last dive) are these small almost translucent anemones. Are these the white form of Sagartia elegans? Helpfully one is out and one is in. I had to photoshop my photo a fair bit to bring out the detail!

Paula Lightfoot I wonder if the anemones could be baby plumose? I saw just one massive plumose on the last dive - it looked a bit lonely!

Nicola Faulks Plumose babies.... they confused me for ages when I first started seasearching!!

Kerry Netherway Thanks all, maybe the one plumose wont be lonely much longer!

Tullio Foti Credo proprio si tratti di 2Actinidae/Actinia,come suggerisce l'amico ed esperto Alberto Biondi che ringrazio.Foto scattata nello Stretto di Messina.

Owen Wangensteen Se non sbaglio, sono Sagartia elegans.

Tullio Foti Molti amici hanno dato la stessa tua definizione,io non sono un esperto,me la cavo benino con i pesci ,ma per il resto sono qui ad imparare,grazie Owen.

Giorgio Cavallaro Uwp http://www.uwphotographers.net/2011/11/blog-post.html

Erling Svensen Can anybody confirm this to be Sagartia elegans? 3-4 cm high, from 10 meters dept, North Norway.

David Fenwick Snr Nice images Erling Svensen

Floris Bennema Yes nice pictures indeed! Sagartia elegans is quite common in the Netherlans too and famous for spiting out its aconita when touched.

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat Hi, Any idea ? Rade de Brest, depth 8 m.

Marco Faasse Juvenile Sagartia elegans? I admit they look a bit strange with only the outer circle of tentacles ringed and the others slightly rose-coloured. Any pictures of the column?

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat Unfortunately no!!!

Andy Horton One thing to do is to poke the sea anemone and see if it readily emits acontia.

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat Thank you Marco and Andy, not good on that !

Erling Svensen This anemone is very common in one fjord in South West Norway. From 15 meter and down to 30 meter. There are many, many of it, but not like the Sagartia elegans ones that grown in colonies. This one is growing one and one with some centimeters between them and do not seems that they clone themselves. But I do not know. All the same colours all over the location, and they grow to 2,5 cm high aprox. Any idee?

George Brown It looks like Sagartiogeton laceratus. Most of the time I see it in silty sand, presumably attached to shell fragments and buried pebbles but occasionally find them out as in your photograph.

Andy Horton Sagartiogeton laceratus

Erling Svensen Looking on my unidentifies pictures. Here there are 3 unidentified ones. All of them are small - only 2 (maximum) wide and 2 cm high. All pictures is from very exposed coast - on rock. When I say very exsposed - I really meen exposed. The waves can grow to 10 - 15 meters high, and the anemones on the pictures are only from 2 - 5 meter of seawater. The lowest picture to the left - I belive this one is the Sagartia elegans. The middel one looks like the Actinothoe sphyrodeta - but this one have never been seen in Norway (but one time must be the first....). I hope you can make comments and may be help?

Andy Horton Are the rocks buried and the disc protruding? With a long column wedged in between the rocks? Or are the anemones on bare rock exposed to the waves? Actinothoe is lightly adherent and can be peeled off easily. This is doubtful on wave battered shores?

Erling Svensen Hi Andy. The anemones are on the rock itself, not burried. I can not say if there are cracks in the rock, but it looks for me like they sit on the rock itself.

Andy Horton If you poke them lightly do they emit acontia? Any chance of a column picture?

Erling Svensen No, sorry. I will be better to do so....

Andy Horton This makes it difficult. I know what they look like, but the choice does not sit on bare rocks. What is the substrate and incline? Are they on a flat area of sea bed or on a slope? Is there sand or gravel on the beach during the quiet season. What time of year, during the storm season or in summer?

Erling Svensen They are on a slope, like a wall. There are no sand ore gravel as this is very exposed. I have not dived this locality since October last year as the waves have been to hard for 5 months now. Most of pictures from this locality is from summertime.

Andy Horton They are a perfect likeness for Sagartia troglodytes, but the habitat is completely wrong. This anemone will appear in calm weather in summertime, but it as a species found on flat shores where is found buried in sand/gravel but fastened to rocks underneath. Where there holes in bare rock Sagartia elegans is usually found. Bigger pictures may help.

Paul Semmens Any idea on the species. Sagartia elegans maybe? From the Helford in Cornwall. thanks in advance. Paul

David Fenwick Snr Hi Paul Cereus pedunculatus, Daisy Anemone found quite a few like it the other day down Chyandour.

Andy Horton Cereus pedunculatus confirmed

Paul Semmens Many thanks. Cheers

Andy Horton Are these embedded in limestone rock in holes?

David Wilson There are lots of these in shallow rock pools on the outer edge of the eastern side of the Salcombe Estuary. They grow out of crevices in the volcanic rock.

David Fenwick Snr Yes Andy you can find this species embedded in holes in limestone and other rocks, it'll also get in cracks and crevices in the bottom of rockpools and is a frequent find under stones on sheltered shores on the south coast of Cornwall. I think it's more likely to form this sort of cristate habit when growing in cracks on more exposed shores; when in holes on sheltered shores the species appears more soft and delicate, often with a much larger trumpet. I've often had to do a double take with this species in the past because of variation due to habitat and exposure.

Andy Horton We get these on Sussex shores in extremely variable frequency. Sand and pebble beaches with chalk bedrock.

Neil Watson Is this an Elegant Anemones? It was on the wreck of the Louis Sheild, South Devon in about 5m of water.

Sarah Bowen Bit difficult to tell from this angle! You really need to see the column of it - if it's warty then it's the Sagartia elegans, but if it's striped it's Actinothoe sphyrodeta. Any other photos?

Neil Watson I don't think I have any more pics sorry; I will look. By the column do you mean the area in the middle of the tentacles?

Sarah Bowen Imagine the tentacles are the flower petals; the column is the stalk so you need to get really low down to look at it side on. The area in the middle is the mouth of the anemone. The one you've posted here looks fairly well buried in, but if you see them on rocks they sometimes stand out really well - here's one of mine from Strangford Lough recently. It's Actinothoe sphyrodeta (not the elegant one).

Neil Watson Perfect, thanks for the info.

Charlotte Bolton No, that's the disc - you generally need a side-on view as well as a top view, often before and after gently wafting the anemone to persuade it to retract its tentacles... ;-)

Erling Svensen Do anybody know why this Sagarthia elegans anemone have a couple of very long arms? The anemone is only 1,5 cm across the disk.

Andy Horton The tentacles enlarge and subject of my talks at the Coelenterate Society and probably Porcupine Society talk way back in the past (20th century). It was on Sagartia troglodytes.

Andy Horton Feeding As many as five large 'catch tentacles' seem to be enlarged versions of existing tentacles, and these can be best observed in aquaria. They are usually translucent. In the wild, this anemone is known to eat shrimps and small crabs that are 75% of the bulk of the anemone, and these tentacles would be necessary to manoeuvre the prey to the mouth. They will actively search the surrounding water for prey of mostly small crustaceans. Catch tentacles are controversial in a number of ways: 1) They are recorded as not existing in preserved specimens in species like the Plumose, Metridium senile, in which they are actually quite common. This is because they are not separate tentacles. http://www.glaucus.org.uk/S-troglo2.htm Pictures are still on the old slides and have not been copied.

Erling Svensen Thanks Andy. Very informable and I did not know. Very nice to observe and learn new things.

Andy Horton These are my anecdotal observations and conclusions from the evidence. In 1993 it was new.

Ron Ates Nice picture. These elongated tentacles have been seen on several more species of acontiarian sea anemones. In S. elegans since at least 1860 or so. They are called fighting tentacles (previously catch tentacles) for their ability to damage neighbouring sea anemones and other animals.

Andy Horton I tested the this "fighting bit" in both Sagartia troglodytes and M. senile by putting the sea anemones next to each other. The tentacles did not enlarge. I put live food in the water and tentacles cames out to try and catch the food. In Actinia equina the acrorhagi seem to be used for fighting, or possible the tentacles do the opposite and retract when they bump into each other. Best results occur when Actinia is matched up against an Anemonia Snakelocks. I repeated the feeding experiment about a hundred times. The catch tentacles did not always appear but they did at least a dozen times out of a hundred, possible more. In eh Beadlet, Actinia the tentacles retract most readily but also in M. senile and the A viridis as well.

Ron Ates Hi Andy,

Ron Ates Hi Andy,

Ron Ates Hi Andy, you raise interesting points, let's compare notes. I am new to this facebookstuff, sorry for that. Things may go wrong as I must learn. I agree that the evidence can be tricky. For instance Diadumene cincta, which is very common in the Netherlands shows fighting tentacles all the time. Yet I have never seen aggressive interactions with other anemones. However, Manuel (1981:122) witnessed it in a fight with Anemonia viridis (your snakelocks) and the latter was killed. So I conclude that elongated tentacles may kill competitors. Another thing that seems to be clear from the literature is that food never adheres to these elongated tentacles. Would you like me to send you pdf's of what I have on this subject?

George Brown Welcome to facebook Ron. Your pdf's sound interesting.

Andy Horton Yes please. There is a files section that *.pdf files can be uploaded to. I don't think I have seen Sagartia actually eat at all. I have seen them spit out tiny Shore Crabs. More later.

Ron Ates Please see Purcell (1977) for an account of fighting tentacle behaviour in the plumose anemone Metridium senile. Food does not adhere to them. They are used in aggression. As far as Sagartia elegans is concerned I have seen it damage and chase away snakelock anemones in my aquarium. Admittedly, in other species the function of elongated tentacles is not always as clear. I will now try to upload part of Purcell (1977), keep your fingers crossed.

Andy Horton The main function of my observations was that they were elongated tentacles rather than separate tentacles.Then there was how to induce the sea anemones to eat which was achieved by introducing food to the water &/or fresh sea water and it was then that the tentacles were observed. When tentacles of other sea anemones meet each other I observed retraction more often than not.

Bernard Picton I was just looking at NBN mapping and found that people have been recording Actinia fragacea all round the UK. I think these are just the spotty version of Actinia equina. I don't have good photographs of A. fragacea, but would be interested to hear your opinions and see some photographs. A. fragacea is supposed to be confined to the south coast of England.

Bernard Picton This one is from southern Portugal.

Andy Horton Actinia equina can change into a full blown Actinia fragacea if you judge by appearances. Sussex coast specimens. I have kept them in captivity for over 10 years, possibly 15 years. This century I have not found so many Actinia fragacea as I have not been to the best locations. http://www.glaucus.org.uk/fragacea.htm

Andy Horton A typical Sussex specimen is likely to have pale tentacles: http://www.glaucus.org.uk/fragacea.jpg

Andy Horton This one was put down to Actinia equina: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150902996844065&set=oa.387114391301613&type=1&theater Not really enough spots for A. fragacea ???

Andy Horton This particular anemone got be hooked on needing to takes its portrait: http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Fragacea-2.jpg It was kept in captivity for over 12 years. Despite its pale tentacles it it its full complement of spots typical of Actinia fragacea. Unlike the normal Beadlets, it showed no sign of reproducing over all those years. I lost it to a Tompot Blenny which I did not know ate sea anemones at the time.

Becky Hitchin Simply from field observations, I'd say that fragacea are generally larger than equina, lower on the shore and more often in damp / wet places. But that's just ecological preferences.

Andy Horton I find that my field observations from Sussex that red, green or brown specimens are often found together. In captivity they can change colour over a period of weeks or months. Only brown or red specimens get green spots. The largest specimens are found on lower shore mussel beds, but not on all of them.

Jon Chamberlain I was very excited to "discover" Actinia fragacea in Eyemouth, only for Dawn to correct me that it was just Sagartia elegans (which is red and spotted when closed up). It just shows how important a good IDing network is to double check sightings. http://www.flickr.com/photos/underwaterinferno/8088015887/in/set-72157631770525541

Becky Hitchin Jon Chamberlain, I just did the same with a "strawberry" in Cove Bay ...

Erling Svensen Looking on my unidentifies pictures. Here there are 3 unidentified ones. All of them are small - only 2 (maximum) wide and 2 cm high. All pictures is from very exposed coast - on rock. When I say very exsposed - I really meen exposed. The waves can grow to 10 - 15 meters high, and the anemones on the pictures are only from 2 - 5 meter of seawater. The lowest picture to the left - I belive this one is the Sagartia elegans. The middel one looks like the Actinothoe sphyrodeta - but this one have never been seen in Norway (but one time must be the first....). I hope you can make comments and may be help?

Andy Horton Are the rocks buried and the disc protruding? With a long column wedged in between the rocks? Or are the anemones on bare rock exposed to the waves? Actinothoe is lightly adherent and can be peeled off easily. This is doubtful on wave battered shores?

Erling Svensen Hi Andy. The anemones are on the rock itself, not burried. I can not say if there are cracks in the rock, but it looks for me like they sit on the rock itself.

Andy Horton If you poke them lightly do they emit acontia? Any chance of a column picture?

Erling Svensen No, sorry. I will be better to do so....

Andy Horton This makes it difficult. I know what they look like, but the choice does not sit on bare rocks. What is the substrate and incline? Are they on a flat area of sea bed or on a slope? Is there sand or gravel on the beach during the quiet season. What time of year, during the storm season or in summer?

Erling Svensen They are on a slope, like a wall. There are no sand ore gravel as this is very exposed. I have not dived this locality since October last year as the waves have been to hard for 5 months now. Most of pictures from this locality is from summertime.

Andy Horton They are a perfect likeness for Sagartia troglodytes, but the habitat is completely wrong. This anemone will appear in calm weather in summertime, but it as a species found on flat shores where is found buried in sand/gravel but fastened to rocks underneath. Where there holes in bare rock Sagartia elegans is usually found. Bigger pictures may help.

Paula Lightfoot Here is its face (I picked it up and moved it to stop it looking down a hole!) - it's a bit blurry but you can see there are no V-shaped markings, which is why I thought maybe Aeolidiella glauca. It was about 3-4cm long.

Andy Horton Who's eating who?

Paula Lightfoot The slug is eating the anemones. On Arran we saw anemones eating jellyfish, gradually pulling them down by their tentacles!! Even a tug of war between several anemones over the same jellyfish!

Peter H van Bragt Hello Paula, for sure A. glauca. It's known to eat a variety of anemones: Like S. troglodytes and Diadumene cincta in Dutch waters. The latter one gives a nice reddish hue in this nudibranch. This seems to be Sagartia elegans? cheers Peter H van Bragt

Paula Lightfoot Thank you Peter ! I thought the anemones were Urticina felina, dahlia anemones, they just don't have as much debris stuck to the columns as they usually do. I saw a couple of Sagartia elegans at this site, but lots and lots of dahlias.

David Fenwick Snr Could this be Stomphia coccinea, a pity it didn't open I know. Found attached to the underside of a rock at Marazion yesterday. It's not a species I'm familiar with.

David Fenwick Snr I should have said, about 25mm, or maybe a little more in diameter.

Andy Horton Odds on it is Sagartia elegans

Andy Horton I do not know about the dots on the stalk. The second unlikely possibility is Metridium senile.

Andy Horton Note the acontia

David Fenwick Snr Re. the 10m and below, the site at Marazion is 'extremely' sheltered and there are all sorts of things you'd not expect intertidally. Area probably best treated as a lagoon with full salinity. By the way, just got back from pooling; found my first cup corals. YIPEE.

Andy Horton Marazion is the best shore I have been to and that was in October. Not the best for sea anemones though.

David Fenwick Snr Thousands of Snakelocks, but with Gems, Beadlets, a few Red Speckled and the odd Daisy, Dahlia and Strawberry.

Andy Horton Ironic that as I thought it was a Sagartia. I have seen Snakelocks proliferation destroy a shore for interest. Notably, Hope's Nose, south Devon.

Cathal McNaughton Found this earlier this evening, it appears to be a juvenile Dahlia anemone (Urticina felina), almost colourless and transparent. I couldnt quite get the focused shot I wanted, this being the best one I managed. Very small, a 5p coin would almost completely hide this.

Cathal McNaughton Just noticed there is a smaller one below it.

Andy Horton Looks more like Sagartia troglodytes

Andy Horton If you poke Sagartia elegans it should discharge acontia. Sagartia troglodytes probably won't. Classic Sagartia troglodytes colouring though.

Cathal McNaughton Thanks for this Andy and Dawn. Those are both new species to me, the 2 youve mentioned. I really thought this showed marking very similar to U felina and that it was a juvenile of that species. I was photographing mature U felina a few minutes before I found this tiny anemone.

Cathal McNaughton I think I'll have to go back tonight, find one of these and give it a poke to see what happens.

Andy Horton If you want to dig them up you would need at least a garden trowel.

Andy Horton http://www.glaucus.org.uk/S-troglo.htm

Andy Horton This is not my photograph and I have never seen a British sea anemone with such pronounced stripes on its column: (I would not pen this as Sagartia elegans ???)

George Brown Actinothoe sphyrodeta.

Erling Svensen What about Sagartiogeton laceratus? We have them here in Norway, and I have always called them S. laceratus?

George Brown In my experience the habitat in the photo also looks too wrong. I only see S. laceratus in silty environments growing out of the mud, maybe anchored to a shell or pebble but never on bedrock. But what makes Norway so exciting is that there, everything is so different so who knows!

Andy Horton Actinothoe. I was thinking pof S laceratus at first. http://www.flickr.com/groups/cnidarians/

Nikki Taylor Species list so far for todays venture into Liverpool Docks...scuse the mix of common and scientific names; Moon Jelly Shore crab Ascidiella aspersa Styela clara Star sea squirt 2 Spotted goby Breadcrumb sponge Plumose anemone Shanny Shrimp sp Ulva intestinalis Paddle worm sp Sagartia elegans Common eel Ophiodromus flexuosus Mytilus edulis Feathery red seaweed (?!!!) Balanus sp Black goby And of course...Conger conger! That's all you're getting today folks. Feel free to add! (or detract)

Becky Hitchin A nice rockpool scene from Elmer Rock Islands. Wondering if the anemone is Sagartia elegans

Andy Horton Probably Actinothoe sphyrodeta

Becky Hitchin d'you know, that's what I meant to say. doh. But odd to see intertidally?

David Kipling What are the squirts becky?

Becky Hitchin They're Corella. Not sure whether eumyota or parallelogramma, can't remember offhand what parallelogramma looks like!

Andy Horton I occasionally see this sea anemone between the tides. Less than one a year on the Sussex coast.

Becky Hitchin We had 2 today :)

Claire Goodwin Hi Becky. Corella parallelogramma usually has a more translucent test. C. eumyota is an invasive species but common in several places - do you get it in your area? It does look the right colour (but hard to give definitive ID from this angle).

David Kipling If they look like Werther's Originals then they eumyota :)

David Kipling Although we could be techie and look at gut loop positions, but it is Sunday evening ...

Becky Hitchin The gut loop certainly very eumyota-ish. As did the colour. I'm just not that familiar with parallelogramma - we get eumyota only. I'm not entirely sure about Sussex, Claire Goodwin, but we've started to get them on the shore in a few places around Kent (and in marinas over the previous year) so it wouldn't surprise me to see them in Sussex too.

David Kipling I think a couple of reasons they're not C. parallelogramma (thinking of Penny's pics). First is the gut loop. C. parallelogramma has a very L-shaped gut, in fact the whole thing is quite square in shape, as opposed to the more rounded look of these. Second is that parallelogramma fix on by the bottom, not the side surface like these. So I'd say def not parallelogramma, but could live with eumyota (having only seen them once on a pontoon in Plymouth).

Becky Hitchin I'd be surprised if they weren't eumyota, I was mainly just wafting parallelogramma about as I don't know them. eumyota has a very J shaped loop, very corrugated in appearance

Becky Hitchin My main real sort of reservation is that the siphons here are much more orangey in colour over a bigger area than our Kent ones

Andy Horton What species would you call this one?

Christian Skauge Dunno... can't see it ;-)

Mary Restell nor me - bizarre. I saw it on notification email but have already deleted it so can't say if its Sagartia elegans or Actinothoe sphyrodeta. What was it?

Christian Skauge It's just his privacy settings I think :-)

Erling Svensen Actinia equina - called Hesteaktinie in norwegian, is very common in Norway. I have not heard about A. fragacea if it not have changed name?

Andy Horton http://www.glaucus.org.uk/fragacea.htm

Andy Horton 3 votes to 1 says this is a separate species to Actinia equina.