Common Name: Giant Caribbean Sea Anemone

Scientific Name: Condylactis Gigantea

 

Kingdom: Animilia

Phylum: Cndaria

Class: Anthrozoa

Order: Actiniaria

Family: Actinidae

Genus: Condylactic

Species: C. gigantea

 

Have you ever thought, what do anemones do besides sitting on the at the bottom of the ocean? Condylactis gigantea, or the Giant Caribbean Sea Anemone, has so many interesting facts. One of them would be, how they can be so many different bright colors! Another fact would be that they are 90% water, how cool is that? And just the fact that there are thousands of them out there, is so amazing.

 

Usually, the Giant Caribbean Sea Anemone is about six inches high, and twelve inches wide. That's pretty big! And, they have around 100 tentacles, that are white, light blue, pink, orange, pale red, or light brown. At the end of their tentacles, their tips are a different color, like; pink, scarlet, blue, or even green. There are so many different kinds.

 

Condylactis giganteas love to find a rock, a shell, crevices in a rock, or anything hard to lay themselves on. They love shallow water. And they are a tropical species, which is where the "Caribbean" in their name comes in. There are about 1000 of these animals in the Caribbean Sea. And, their population is growing, they reproduce sexually and asexual. So it's unlikely for these creatures to go extinct within the next ten years!

 

Sea anemones love to eat so many different things. Some examples would be, fish, mussels, adult sea urchins, shrimp, and similar organisms. What they would do to kill their prey; they use the toxin nematocysts, on the tips of their tentacles, and then once they've died, they eat it whole! They don't have many predators, but one example would be the Red Leg Hermit.

              

Clearly, there are so many different things you can learn from all these great facts. Obviously, anemones don't just sit at the bottom of the sea! If you really think about it they help out a lot, by eating fish and other things. That way there isn't an overpopulation. Which would be pretty bad, and I'm positive that they help out in so many other ways.

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Author: Lucie H.

Date Published: 02/16/2013

 

Sources: www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari

               www.wikipedia.org/wiki/condylactis_gigantea

               www.animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/condylactis_gigantea