IndoPacific sea anemones possessing branched outgrowths: how many species

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Indo-Pacific sea anemones possessing branched
outgrowths how many species?

• Andrea L. Crowther
• The University of Kansas
• Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• The Natural History Museum and Biodiversity
  Research Institute

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Sea anemones
Unbranched tentacles
Circular oral disc
Smooth column
Pedal disc
Photo by N. Barnett (http//www.newt.com/wohler/ev
ents/monterey-2005/)
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Overview

• Introduction
• Sea anemones
• Study group
• Branched outgrowths?
• How many species?
• Material and methods results
• Conclusions
• Number of species
• Summary and acknowledgments

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Sea anemones with branched outgrowths
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Pseudotentacles and vesicles

• What are they?
• What is their inferred function?

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Indo-Pacific Aliciidae

• Indo-Pacific species
• Triactis producta (purple)
• Phyllodiscus semoni (green)

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How many species?

• Have juveniles of one species been identified as
  a separate species?

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Methodology

• Need a way to tease out size effect
• Measure multiple individuals, range of sizes
• Based on Ardelean (2003)
• Branching pattern informative, branching number
  size-related

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Material

• Fieldwork
• Dahab, Egypt (Red Sea)
• Zanzibar, Tanzania (Indian Ocean)
• Museum collections
• Natural history museums in Europe and the US

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Results two species

• Triactis producta
• One ring of pseudotentacles
• Small in size
• Branching of pseudotentacles just in one plane

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Results two species

• Phyllodiscus semoni
• Multiple rings of pseudotentacles
• Most specimens larger than T. producta
• Branching of pseudotentacles in more than one
  plane

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Phyllodiscus semoni species complex?

• Wide range in morphologies

www.starfish.ch
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BUT!

• Is this just a gradient of morphology?

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Future research direction

• Phyllodiscus semoni how many species?
• Is variation within or between species?
• Study material in Naturalis museum, Leiden, the
  Netherlands
• Fieldwork
• Molecular data

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Summary

• Q how many species of sea anemones possessing
  branched outgrowths in the Indo-Pacific?
• Juveniles?
• A twomaybe more!
• Different branching pattern of outgrowths

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Acknowledgments

• Fieldwork
• Kansas Academy of Science Student Research Grant
• Lerner-Gray Fund for Marine Research (AMNH)
• Red Sea Environmental Centre (Dahab, Egypt)
• Institute of Marine Science (Zanzibar)
• Museum trip
• The University of Kansas General Research Fund
• Advice
• Dr. Daphne Fautin
• Photos
• Christian Alter (RSEC, Dahab, Egypt)
• Dr. Reinhard Kikinger (Kuramathi Bio Station,
  Maldives)
• References
• Ardelean, A. 2003. Revision of the Family
  Actinodendridae (Cnidaria Actiniaria). Ph.D.
  Dissertation, University of Kansas, Lawrence.