My new babies

kwbyron · Post by **kwbyron** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 10:38 pm

Look what I have!!!! Who knows what they'll grow up to be?

I'll add photos as they develope more.

kwbyron · Post by **kwbyron** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 11:07 pm

They grow up so fast...here are mesenteries forming just 2 days later.

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 5:29 am

Need... more... information...

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 11:50 am

Anemones?

kwbyron · Post by **kwbyron** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 5:55 pm

Thats it! They are Metridium senile larvae. It was the mesentaries that gave it away wasn't it?

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:08 pm

It twas indeed.

I had actually never even HEARD of mesentaries until more recently, when trying to ID a strange shot I had of a very mutilated Plumose anemone. (Metridium farcimen) I had called some experts up on the phone, and then pulled out my copy of Kozloff's Marine Invertebrates of the Pacific NW and read up on Plumose anemones - and the mesentaries were all over the place in the anatomical drawings!

Are you pretty well-versed on anemones?

- Janna

kwbyron · Post by **kwbyron** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 11:49 pm

I'm working on it, I am doing a study on the aggression between clones of Metridium senile. We caught one spawning the other week and I was able to culture the larvae. I have a photo of a mutalated M farcimen I took at anacortes marina, it's depressing to see. M senile will beat up on farcimen pretty good, but I don't know if it's enough to expose the mesentaries.

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:25 am

Look ... you're a nice kid ... I like you ... but I can't understand a WORD you're saying!

Jan K · Post by **Jan K** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 7:10 am

sounds interesting, but I am with Grateful Diver on this one. Could you elaborate on the subject easier to understand? Let us in on the secret lives of anemones, please...

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:43 am

Actually, I was quoting someone ... or perhaps paraphrasing. Been a coupla years since I saw the movie ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:10 am

Grateful Diver wrote:Actually, I was quoting someone ... or perhaps paraphrasing. Been a coupla years since I saw the movie ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

That only works when other folks have seen or heard what you're quoting! The other day between dives on Hood Canal I quoted Dan Akroyd in an OLD Saturday Night Live sketch with Jane Curtin....("Jane, you ignorant slut!")....everyone on the boat looked at me as though I had suddenly grown two heads.....there was an embarrassing silence....not even polite laughter.....

It's Hell to get old.....no one knows what you're talking about! HA!

- John

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:14 am

GD, I knew EXACTLY who you were quoting - since my little 2 year old granddaughter loves watching that movie with her old diving grandparents

Sorry John - I never was an SNL fan I guess, although I'm old enough to be!!

Anyway, as near as I can explain from my very limited knowledge on the subject -

Plumose anemones (Metridium senile and Metridium farcimen) have a large digestive cavity (called a terminal cavity because all the waste products have to go out the same opening they came in). This cavity is made up of a lot of folds and ridges along the inside walls, called mesentaries.

Also, these anemones have a specialized set of tentacles that pack a BIG WHALLOP of a sting that they use to zap their neighbors - it's a set of two or so thicker tentacles that come out of their center and are quite long - long enough to fight with neighboring Plumose anemones to kill them. Why? They're competing for space. Nice, eh?

I have a photo that I took in Barkley Sound Oct 2006 that shows a really weird thing - a very mangled Plumose Anemone, showing the mesentaries, with gonads lining them. The photo was used in Andy Lamb's first column in NW Dive News a few issues back, but for some reason was credited to Andy, and not me. :(

So THAT's what we're talking about!

- Janna

Zen Diver · Post by **Zen Diver** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:58 am

John Rawlings wrote:

The other day between dives on Hood Canal I quoted Dan Akroyd in an OLD Saturday Night Live sketch with Jane Curtin....("Jane, you ignorant slut!")....everyone on the boat looked at me as though I had suddenly grown two heads.....there was an embarrassing silence....not even polite laughter.....

It's Hell to get old.....no one knows what you're talking about! HA!

- John

That's okay John, I remember the original Not Ready for Primetime Players quite well. And I especially remember that line!

-Valerie

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:23 am

Zen Diver 2 wrote: That's okay John, I remember the original Not Ready for Primetime Players quite well. And I especially remember that line!

-Valerie

HOW old did you say you were, Val???? I was absolutely SURE that you were in your mid-20's!

You must've watched some old re-runs, right?

- John

Dmitchell · Post by **Dmitchell** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:34 am

nwscubamom wrote: Plumose anemones (Metridium senile and Metridium farcimen) have a large digestive cavity (called a terminal cavity because all the waste products have to go out the same opening they came in). This cavity is made up of a lot of folds and ridges along the inside walls, called mesentaries.

- Janna

I'm pretty sure I know some people with this condition......

Zen Diver · Post by **Zen Diver** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 11:13 am

John Rawlings wrote:
Zen Diver 2 wrote: That's okay John, I remember the original Not Ready for Primetime Players quite well. And I especially remember that line!

-Valerie
HOW old did you say you were, Val???? I was absolutely SURE that you were in your mid-20's!

You must've watched some old re-runs, right?

- John

Uh, YES, that's it, yeah, reruns, sure....

And the fact that in slightly over 3 months I'll be officially pushing a half century has nothing to do with it...

-Valerie

kwbyron · Post by **kwbyron** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 11:26 am

Well explained Janna, A few notes though, M. farcimen does not have the fighting tentacles (these are the really big anemones), that's specific to senile, and one of the few definitive ways to tell them apart. My hypothesis is that the aggression by senile is not competition, but sexual selection. Since senile reproduces asexually, they form large aggregations of identicle anemones, which would reduce the probability that a neighbor would be of the opposite sex. Since they reproduce by spawning, it would benefit the individual that could ensure they were surrounded by members of the opposite sex. Since farcimen does not undergo asexual reproduction, they do not have this issue, hence, no aggression.
My next goal in life is to learn Mr. Ray's song, he runs through most of the phylum in Anamalia
Here is senile being a jerk:

My nex

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 3:50 pm

Well Kevin, very interesting stuff!! I had a chance to speak with Dr. Lisbeth Francis (who researches these anemones) on the phone from up at Shannon Point Marine Center about these guys and sent her the photo. She thinks the pink stuff is mesentaries loaded up with female gonads. I'd like to hear what you think too - since you've got some experience with the critter!

Here's the pic:

and a closeup of the mesentaries:

- Janna

kwbyron · Post by **kwbyron** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 6:02 pm

That's exactly what it is. Liz is actually my research advisor, she is an amazing scientist. I have a lot of fun debating her, she disagrees with me on the purpose for agression... but our recent field work as shifted her opinion in my direction!

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:00 am

kwbyron wrote:That's exactly what it is. Liz is actually my research advisor, she is an amazing scientist. I have a lot of fun debating her, she disagrees with me on the purpose for agression... but our recent field work as shifted her opinion in my direction!

Sounds like she's sporting "senile fighting tentacles!"

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:12 am

Kevin,

Enough of the nerdspeak. I do believe some field observations are necessary sometime soon....

Jake

kwbyron · Post by **kwbyron** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 11:45 pm

welll...fatherhood is over for now. My larvae are all gone, not sure how, but it seems a bunch of copepods like critters got in the sample and I think they ate all the larvae.