Well, we have a clue to their origin.
Jim Carlton astutely inquired about whether there were any markings on the cap.
Eric searched more thoroughly today, and found a faded word on the top of the black cap:
When Eric searched for the word "KURE" on the Internet, he discovered that Kure is a port town in Japan (near Hiroshima).
And then he started searching for KURE products. Here's what he found:
Lots of black plastic caps! KURE is a company that makes cleaning products and lubricants — see their website here. (Note that their slogan is, "Let's Move!" It appears that the mystery anemones took their slogan literally!).
The fact that the anemones were growing in a KURE product cap makes us think that they might have originated in Japan rather than the Indo-Pacific. We'll continue to follow up on the identity of the mystery anemones.
5 comments:
That's so cool. Can't wait to hear about this continuing story and hopefully resolution as to the ID. Carol
This is very interesting to me . . . I found what I believe is a plastic Japanese green tea bottle, cap intact, yesterday on Doran. Right after the Fukashima disaster, my husband and I found a perfectly sound composite pallet with Japanese labels stamped into it. These are good examples of how far reaching beach trash is . . . thanks so much for keeping us informed!
Hi, Darris! Thanks very much for letting me know about your Japanese finds at Doran. I found the picture of the bottle on your Facebook page. Do you also have a photograph of the pallet?
Jackie
This is so cool Jackie! At first I was wondering about international distribution of the product but after combing their website it looks like it can only be bought in Japan and Taiwan. Which makes it even more likely that this family of anemones travelled from so far away. Can't wait to see what else you guys discover about them!
Hi, Theresa!
Yes, we have lots of questions about where the cap's journey began. Someone could say -- well, perhaps the product (with cap) was bought or brought elsewhere, or perhaps it was dropped off a ship at sea. However, the presence of anemones that are likely from the Western Pacific probably says something about the cap starting out close to shore in their native range. For example, what's the likelihood that an anemone larva would settle on a drifting cap far offshore? Of course, if we can get a definitive identification on the anemones, that will be a major piece of this fascinating puzzle. (We're working on it, but it might take a while.)
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