Common Name: People Eater
Scientific Name: Zoanthu gigantus

 

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Cinidaria

Class: Anthozoa

Order: Zoanthidea

Family: Zoanthidae

Genus: Zoanthus

Species: Z. gigantus

 

People Eater sounds like a shark but it is actually a sea anemone.  They can be different colors ranging from orange to purple.  Some PEs are in masses of hundreds.  People Eaters live 3 or 4 meters below the surface on the coastal parts of Japan.  I can't believe that this animal does photosynthesis! Photosynthesis is its secondary method of obtaining food.  It mainly eats its food out of the water.  This animal will give you stomaches if you eat it.  You can tell that it is a zoanthus gigantus by the large, colorful, oral disc. The People Eater lives in warm parts of Japan.  Zoanthus gigantus is hunted, although reproducing rapidly.  It's predators are Amphipods and humans which use them for their aquarium and for show. Zoanthus Gigantus are about $200 in the 1974, but the price of them now (2013)is around $5-$10.  Many Japanese scuba, just to look at the People Eaters in their natural habitat.

 

Author: Saul W
published: 02/2013

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Sources: 

www.captivereefs.com/forum/feature.../zoanthus-gigantus-10803/

www.reefs2go.com/Peopleeaters/Purple-People-Eaters-Zoos

http://skaphandrus.com/en/marine-species/info/species/Zoanthus-Gigantus