After field work this morning, I noticed a couple of Giant Green Anemones (Anthopleura xanthogrammica) were spawning, so I took a couple of quick photos for the record.
Sometimes spawning is triggered by a large change in water temperature. During the past week we saw extremely cold temperatures of ~8.5°C (~47°F), and then when the winds dropped temperatures rose to ~12.5°C (~54.5°F).
Here's a close-up of the eggs:
And a zoomed out view of the entire female anemone with the beige eggs accumulated on the lower edge of her oral disc:
There were a few males spawning, too:
P.S. I haven't seen anemones spawning that often, but I wrote about another observation back in 2013. See "Fortuitous" on 28 June 2013 and "Little narwhals" on 23 July 2013 (the latter includes photos of anemone larvae).
Of all underwater sea creatures I encountered diving, Anthopleura xanthogrammica was one name I committed to memory! Musical feel and sound to it; fun to say aloud. An impressive anemone,
ReplyDeleteand picture!
"A few males spawning--" Please explain picture. Tank you. (Can't type letter after "g."
ReplyDeleteHi, Adrienne,
ReplyDeleteThe last picture shows a male anemone spawning, with white sperm on the oral disc. I saw a few other individual males spawning, but that photo only shows one. Does that help? Or just let me know if I didn't interpret your question correctly.
:) Jackie