Happy Solstice!

  

Moonglow Anemone (Anthopleura artemisia) 

Buoyant packets

  

We were doing some field surveys this morning (2 April 2025) along the rocky shore when Eric noticed these unusual compacted packets of By-the-wind Sailors (Velella velella) floating in tidepools.

He recognized what was going on right away (and there's a hint in the photo above), but it's likely this only happens under rare circumstances.

Here's another photo with an even stronger hint:

 

 

Giant Green Sea Anemones (Anthopleura xanthogrammica) have been feeding on By-the-wind Sailors...and there have been so many of them recently that the anemones are expelling large packets filled with the indigestible parts of Velella.

 

The basic idea — an anemone swallows lots of Velella, digests what it can, and then expels the leftover bits from its mouth in a dense ball (like an owl pellet) surrounded by mucous.

 

Here's a photo just before the Velella packet is expelled:

 

 

 

Today was a blustery spring day with strong northwest winds.  Because these packets of Velella float at the surface, there were often clusters of them at the downwind ends of tidepools (especially in pools with good numbers of anemones):

 

 

With thanks to Eric for noticing and documenting this interesting phenomenon!

Reaching out to say...

  

  Happy solstice, everyone!

P.S.  From a Ten-tentacled Sea Anemone (Halcampa decemtentaculata) photographed recently by Eric along the Sonoma Coast.

For fall

  

Eric photographed this gorgeous Moonglow Anemone (Anthopleura artemisia) at Point Reyes last week.  Seemed like an appropriate photo to help celebrate the autumn equinox!  

Notice that the markings in the center of the oral disk (the brown and cream-colored markings surrounding the mouth) hint at the six-part symmetry of sea anemones, which belong to the taxonomic group called Hexacorallia.

Here's a view of the entire anemone (below).  Interestingly, the color patterns of the anemones we found last weekend seemed a little different than the Moonglow Anemones that we see in Sonoma County.

 Happy fall, everyone!

 P.S.  And thanks for the great shots, Eric!

Pool of light

  

 Morning light in a tidepool with sea urchins (purple) and sea anemones (green).

Bearing a clever defense

  

Sometimes it's hard to choose which photos to share, but I couldn't resist posting this Teddy Bear Crab (Polydectus cupulifer) from Hawai'i.

This crab is covered with dense setae (chitinous bristles), making it look very fuzzy.  

And check out the area near the tips of its claws.  Can you see how it looks a bit softer there and how it's a slightly different color than the crab (and lacks bristles)?  

Teddy Bear Crabs carry a small sea anemone in each claw.  [They usually choose Pleasing Anemones (Telmatactis decora).]  I read that the sea anemones might be used to defend against predators or in feeding.

Photographed near Honolulu on 7 April 2024.

Solo sola

  

A beautiful Sunburst Anemone (Anthopleura sola) photographed by Eric on 19 January 2024.

Gold-flecked

 

 

When your eyes match your background...

 

A small sculpin in a low zone tidepool, resting on a sponge with an anemone in the background.  Photographed 6 July 2023.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

 

And did you notice the gold flecking on its fins?  :)

Bright green

 

 

Every now and then we encounter a really bright green Sunburst Anemone (Anthopleura sola).  

 

P.S.  Are you kidding me, Celtics?  Back to Boston we go!  :)

Individuality

 
One year later (see the post from 28 December 2021) and we're continuing to document examples of color and pattern variations in the Ten-tentacled Anemone (Halcampa decemtentaculata).  Here's a nice set of images take by Eric last week, especially highlighting the different patterns in the central disc area.  [You can click on the image for a sharper version.]

Variation

 

 

Last week Eric had good luck finding Ten-tentacled Anemones (Halcampa decemtentaculata) with interesting color patterns.  [You can click on the image for a sharper version.]

Some of the patterns and the amazing variation between individuals reminds us of snowflakes.  And speaking of snow...it's in the forecast for Cotati on Saturday morning! 

Red, white, and gray

  

Moonglow Anemone (Anthopleura artemisia), photographed on 14 June 2022

Eggs in neon

  

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).

Now that's a brood!

  

Meet Lisbeth's Brooding Sea Anemone (Epiactis lisbethae).  This is the first time I've encountered one in Sonoma County (or anywhere!).

In comparison to the more common Proliferating Anemone (Epiactis prolifera), note the very high abundance of juveniles ...and that the juveniles are uniform in size (rather than a large variety of sizes).  (For an example of a brooding Epiactis prolifera, check out the post called "Ring around the anemone" on 18 February 2021.)

Yes!  Those are tiny juvenile anemones clustered between the base of the anemone (on the left) and the tentacles (on the right).  Here's a close-up of the juveniles:

Photographed along the Sonoma Coast on 19 May 2022.

Anemone buffet?

  

We often see Shag-Rug Nudibranchs (Aeolidia loui) eating Aggregating Sea Anemones (Anthopleura elegantissima), but I haven't observed them eating Brooding Sea Anemones (Epiactis prolifera) as often.  

Below is an even closer view.  Epiactis broods its young around the base of the column, so those little dots of various sizes are juvenile sea anemones.  This view made me wonder if the nudibranch eats the young anemones?

 

 

P.S.  For a couple of nice views of Brooding Sea Anemones with large broods see "Ring around the Anemone" on 18 February 2021.

Artful anemone

  

We've been busy lately, but here's a quick shot of a beautiful Moonglow Anemone (Anthopleura artemisia) from today, 28 March 2022.

12 for 12

 

 

Whew, it's hard to believe another 12 months have gone by.  Here are a couple of 12-tentacled sea anemones to help welcome 2022.  

 

Meet Halcampa crypta! 

 

 

 

 

It might seem surprising that these two individuals are the same species, but color patterning in Halcampa crypta is quite variable. If you've been following the blog lately, you will remember that the closely related species Halcampa decemtentaculata also shows considerable variation among individuals.  Both of these photos were taken by Eric at Duxbury Reef on 31 December 2021.

 

We're sending warm wishes your way with hopes for many meaningful moments outdoors while we circle around the sun again!

 

20 for 70

 

 

You might recall the Ten-tentacled Sea Anemones (Halcampa decemtentaculata) that we introduced in late November.  We are intrigued by the variations in color and patterning in this species, so Eric decided to put together a mosaic to make it easier to appreciate them.

 

The mosaic shows twenty individuals of this anemone species that were all photographed at the same site.  It's easy to see that some have white oral discs (the central area surrounded by the tentacles) while a few have darker oral discs.  And although all of the anemones have tentacles with interesting speckling and striping, the tentacles vary quite a bit in the proportion of pale/dark shading and in the intensity or opaqueness of the colors.

 

The details of the patterning on the oral discs are fascinating.  If you look closely, you'll see designs like mustaches, snowflakes, or lace.  To make it easier to see these patterns up close, I've uploaded a high resolution version of this mosaic to Flickr.  You can click on this link and then click on the image to see a magnified view of each anemone.  It's worth viewing this high resolution version!

 

Cadet Hand (founding director of the Bodega Marine Laboratory) first described Ten-tentacled Sea Anemones from specimens he collected in Mendocino County on 24 December 1951 — 70 years ago this month!

 

Many thanks to Eric for photographing these anemones and compiling them into this spectacular image.  Enjoy!

Greenery

Sola green (tentacles of the Sunburst Anemone, Anthopleura sola):

 

 

 

Sculpin green:

 

 

 

 

Siphon green (clam siphon):

 

 

 

Anemone addendum

Okay, last night I shared a couple of photos of Ten-tentacled Sea Anemones (Halcampa decemtentaculata).  There's lots to be intrigued about with this species.  One of the notable things is the variation in color patterning.  

Below are a few more examples — interesting patterns sometimes show up on the oral disc (like flowers or snowflakes); occasionally there's a beautiful maroon color on the disc or the tentacles; other individuals we found were brownish overall but nearly transparent:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having such variable color patterning might help to thwart predators, making it harder for them to develop a search image for a consistent color form.  [For another example of this in brittle stars, see the post called "Colorful discs" from 1 October 2016.]

 

One of the more notable color forms had a remarkable combination of white, gray, and brown patterning which made it look like bits of shell or other debris mixed in with the gravel on the bottom of the tidepool.  (We started calling this form the "moustache-type" since the dark bar across the white on the central disk looked like a moustache.)  It's hard to tell that this is a sea anemone, especially from a distance, because the overall anemone shape is disrupted by the color pattern.  It was very effective!  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

 

For the record, Eric's sharp eyes also spotted a few tiny juveniles (less than 5 mm across):

 

 

 

We hope you enjoyed this introduction to Halcampa!  [Another fun fact: This anemone was first described by Cadet Hand, the founding director of the Bodega Marine Laboratory, back in 1954.]

 

P.S.  I know some of you will be wondering — those purple bits in the background of some of these images are sea urchin spines.