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Thursday, February 18, 2021

Ring around the anemone

  

Proliferating Anemone (Epiactis prolifera) with a large brood in a ring around the base of the column.  Those small beige bumps (of various sizes) are juvenile anemones that will be spend ~4 months with the parent before becoming independent.  

In the photo above, the juveniles are closed up, but check out the image below to see some of the little ones with their tentacles expanded.  The range of juvenile sizes is because embryos are fertilized at different times and added to the "family" around the column.  Photographed in northern Sonoma County on 10 February 2021.

 

2 comments:

Hollis said...

I love these beautiful little anemones. I once showed a photograph to a class before a field trip to the intertidal and the teacher exclaimed "parenting!" :)

Marni Fylling said...

Wow! I’ve never seen an Epiactis with so many young. One of my faves. Great shots, as always!