ALL
ABOUT
ANEMONES
Photographssourcedfrom:
Florent’sGuidetotheFlorida,Bahamas,andCaribbeanReefs
A GUIDE BY ALEXANDRA COLOMBARA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ECOLOGY AND OCEAN CONSERVATION
About Anemones ............................................................................................................................................. 1
What do sea anemones do for the ocean environment?
In a coral reef community sea anemones have an important role, or ecological
Identifying Anemone and Shrimp Species .....................................................................................2
niche. Many anemone species act as homes for other reef animals such as
Anemone Photos and Scientific Names........................................................................................ 3
clownfish that live in the anemone’s tentacles to gain protection from
predators. In exchange for the home, the anemone gets small food particles
Shrimp Photos and Scientific Names ............................................................................................ 4
leftover from the fish’s meals so that both organisms benefit.
Ecology and Ocean Conservation .................................................................................................... 5
This
relationship is called a mutualism. Anemones can also act as homes to small
shrimp that use the anemone as a base station for cleaning parasites off of
reef fish, which leads to larger and healthier fish populations.
What threatens the biodiversity of the oceans?
Oceans are at risk from many factors including overfishing, pollution,
habitat destruction, and climate change. Many of these problems are due to
anthropogenic, or human-caused, activities.
What can you do to help?
There are many ways that you can help the environment and protect the
ocean and all of the cool organisms that live in it by: cleaning up a beach,
buying sustainable seafood at the grocery store, using less plastic, and
reducing greenhouse gases by riding your bike. To keep our oceans healthy
and happy we all need to do our part!
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PHOTOS AND SCIENTIFIC NAMES
ABOUT ANEMONES
What are sea anemones?
Sea anemones may look a little bit like a
flower but they are actually animals!
Anemones are able to capture food like
zooplankton from the seawater around them.
They use their long stinging tentacles to
Squat Anemone Shrimp-Thor Amboinensis
Peppermint Shrimp- Lysmata wurdemanni
stick to tiny bits of food and move it towards their mouth inside the
ring of tentacles. They are invertebrates, meaning that they have no
skeleton, only soft bodies and are close family members to corals
that build reefs throughout the ocean.
Where can anemones be found?
There are more than 1,000 species of sea anemones that can be
Sun Anemone Shrimp- Periclimenes rathbunae Spotted Cleaner Shrimp – Periclimenes yucatanicus
found in the oceans all over the world, from shallow tropical waters
to the deep sea at more than 5,000 feet.
What kind of animals live with them?
Many animals can be found living in or
around an anemone’s tentacles such as
small crabs and shrimp, and in the Pacific
Pederson’s Cleaner Shrimp- Ancylomenes pedersoni
Ocean even clownfish like Nemo!
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1
IDENTIFYING ANEMONES AND SHRIMP
PHOTOS AND SCIENTIFIC NAMES
In the Caribbean Sea there are a number of large sea anemones that
can be easily found and their species identified. These sea anemones
commonly live in sandy bottoms of shallow water, on or around docks,
or on coral reefs. Often, tiny shrimp can also be seen living among
the anemone’s tentacles if you look closely! Use this key to identify
any shrimp or crab species that you might find in the ocean.
Rosetip Anemone- Condylactis gigantea
Branching Anemone- Lebrunia danae
Sun Anemone- Stichodactyla helianthus
Knobby Anemone- Rhodactis lucida
Corkscrew Anemone- Bartholomea annulata
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