#epiactis

[cephalogodess]

Proliferating anemones, with & without babies! Aren’t the baby anemones the cutest things you’ve ever seen? What good mamas 

Epiactis lisbethae

Salt Creek, WA (August 2019, March 2017, March 2019, August 2019)

[cephalogodess]

I’ve been wanting to make my dive log more artistic for ages now (and actually keep up with it ofc) so I finally figured out how to use a photo editing application similar to photoshop. This is the first thing I made! It’s a collage of proliferating anemones I saw on a dive at Salt Creek. All of the anemones are edited in except the green one in the middle. Can’t wait to experiment more with this! 

[cephalogodess]

Epiactis lisbethae (with babies!)

Salt Creek

March 2018

[cephalogodess]

Check out this beautiful green proliferating anemone, Epiactis prolifera, I found while tide pooling at Larrabee state park near Bellingham, Washington. I saw several specimens but this one was my favorite because it had a few babies attached to the stalk. I often see these guys attached to floating pieces of eel grass (which was how I found this one!). If you’re tide pooling in the PNW, always make sure to check eel grass as they often will have nudibranchs, snails, skeleton shrimp or anemones attached to them. 

[theredshrimp]

Brooding Anemone, Epiactis sp.

The tiny anemones around the large one aren’t buds, but are offspring that were fertilized in the mother’s gastrovascular cavity and then transported out around her column.

This teal color isn’t quite typical where I am - most are brown, reddish, or a much duller green.

[libutron]

Epiactis thompsoni

This striking anemone known by the scientific name of Epiactis thompsoni (Actiniaria - Actiniidae), lives in shallow waters of southern Australia and New Zealand.

Although the color pattern varies, they usually are red and pink. The column is smooth with vertical stripes of cream and red, and have about 40-60 short tentacles.

References: [1] - [2]

Photo credit: ©Saspotato | Locality: Portsea Pier, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia