Brooding Anemonein Puget Sound

Common name: Fernald Brooding Anemone and Giant Brooding AnemoneScientific name: Epiactis Lisbethal

What the Anemone looks like

• Small species: the height of an expanded specimen does not often exceed about 3cm

• The basic color is brown to greenish brown, but it is sometimes red, pinkish red or dull green.

What it eats

small fish

shrimpcrustaceans

How it eats• The brooding anemones capture its prey with its deadly stinging

tentacles• Its mouth and tentacles are located on the top of its body• Stalk tentacles have cells• When the cell is stimulated either physically or chemically, it shoots poison that paralyzes prey.

How it produces• Can produce sexually or asexually• In sexual reproduction male and female gametes (sperm and egg) are

released into the sea, where fertilization takes place. Some species have separate sexes and some are hermaphrodite.

• In asexual reproduction only one individual is involved and there is no fertilization. Ways such as budding, binary fission, and pedal laceration

Size• Brooding Anemones are small species. The

height of the expanded sea creature does not often exceed about 3cm.

• Rarely can come close to 5cm.

Habitat• Brooding anemones are regularly found on the

leaves of eelgrass. Red or pinkish red specimens are sometimes found on rocky shores, but rare on eelgrass.

Interesting Facts• Tiny anemones growing alongside adults settled there as larvae, and are protected

by the parent's tentacles until they mature and move off on their own• Usually spend most of their lives in one place, but some have the ability to move• If they do move, they can only travel three to four inches an hour• Sometimes sea anemones hitch a ride on hermit crabs or decorator crabs• Sea Anemones can pick up bits of food from the crab and eat it