Two New Species of Encrusting Anemones Discovered in Japan
Posted on January 30, 2015
Scientists have discovered two new species of encrusting anemones. The species were found living in cracks and caves in coral reefs off Okinawa Island, Japan. Palythoa Mizigama, one of the new species, is pictured above. A polyp of the second species, Palythoa umbrosa, is pictured below from a stereomicroscope image at a 0.5 cm scale.
The discovery was made by Yuka Irei, a University of the Ryukyus graduate student, and James Davis Reimer, an associate professor at Ryukyus. Dr. Frederic Sinniger from JAMSTEC was also part of the research team. The anemones both belong to the genus Palythoa. The newly discovered anemones do not have zooxanthellae like most other Palythoa species. Zooxanthellae are a type of symbiotic algae that can provide hosts with energy from the sun.
Professor Reimer says these species use long tentacles to obtain plankton in the water. Reimer also says the anemones have "polyps that are curved towards the entrances of cracks or caves for better access to their food source."
Irei says in a statement in a statement that the two anemones were initially thought to be a single new species. He says, "At first, we were surprised at the discovery of specimens, and thought we had one undescribed and unusual species on our hands, but we were even more surprised when DNA analyses showed clearly that there were two different species."
A research paper on the new anemones can be found here in the journal, ZooKeys.