Christmas bell

  

We had our Christmas dinner and celebration mid-day, so we couldn't resist a late afternoon trip to the coast including some tidepooling on the extreme low tide.

One of the most exciting finds during our exploring was a beautiful staurozoan, Manania gwilliami.  This individual was ~2 cm tall.

Staurozoans are also known as stalked jellyfish because their body plan resembles the bell of a jellyfish attached to the rock with a stalk.  The edge of the bell is armed with clusters of stinging tentacles used to capture prey including small crustaceans:

 

 

Although this staurozoan was in a channel with water surging back and forth, Eric managed one photo from below showing the swirling red and white color pattern on the inner surface of the bell:

 

 

 

Manania gwilliami photographed in the low intertidal zone in Sonoma County on 25 December 2022.  (With many thanks to Eric for spotting and photographing this beautiful staurozoan!)

 

P.S.  To learn a little bit more about this species, see the post called "Twinkle, twinkle little stauro" on 12 November 2012.