Let's play a game! ID the anemone.

[Anonymous]

Here's a really huge pic, you can see some detail of the tentacles etc.
http://www.website-x.com/images/nanoreef/porcelain_huge.jpg

 

[John_Brandt]

Heteractis aurora.

Did I win?

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm, I guessed in this thread that it was H. malu.
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=45420

I think it's safe to say it's definitely H. malu or aurora. It *might* even be H. crispa... I'd go with John's ID on this one.

 

[Anonymous]

I dunno who won ... I want to see what the majority opin says. :}

Thanks for the replies!

 

[John_Brandt]

The raised "ringlike" swellings on the tentacles are diagnostic for H. aurora.

 

[hdtran]

I know! I know! It's a porcelain crab! 8)

 

[Anonymous]

how much do you think it should cost for a speciment that's 4" across (when swelled happily but not excessivly).

 

[John_Brandt]

how much do you think it should cost for a speciment that's 4" across (when swelled happily but not excessivly).

People in The Sump are going to want to use this classic line for their signatures.... "when swelled happily but not excessivly".

Answer: Between $10-60.00

 

[Anonymous]

lol, i guess i should have expected that broad ballpark of an answer. i guess $20 isn't so bad for it.

so far it looks like h aurora is the right ID but a few pix show different tentacle shape. it's definitely not a sebae lol. the color is somewhere between rose/purple tho, and this is not the most common color for them.

 

[John_Brandt]

Color is not used to identify H. aurora (because they are variable). What identifies them is, "The raised "ringlike" swellings on the tentacles..."

 

[Anonymous]

Are they're any other indentifing points to look for as well John?

 

[John_Brandt]

Lives in the substrate (sand, mud, etc), usually has a "wide-ish" bare area between the mouth and the tentacles, anemonefish-symbiotic. But the raised rings are the key indicator.

 

[Anonymous]

by "key indicator" do you imply that no other anemone features such a shape?

 

[John_Brandt]

by "key indicator" do you imply that no other anemone features such a shape?

Of the symbiotic anemones, the answer is yes.

There are others that have somewhat raised rings (but they are more like stripes), overall any others really don't look like aurora and are not anemonefish-symbiotic.

Another with "sorta" rings, Bartholomea annulata: http://www.deepseaimages.com/dsilibrary/showphoto.php?photo=2573&password=&sort=1&cat=all&page=1

 

[Anonymous]

cool, thanks for the info JB!

 

[Anonymous]

Im not sure what it is...this is outta your nano cube right Hwarang.???? Im curious to know since ive really never seen this creature before...

 

[LilBugger225]

When I first got my anemone about 4 years ago it was small and looked similar to that anemone. When it got bigger, alot of the tentacles on the outer rim lost the ring like indentations but the ones in the middle kept them. You can see some pics of it at this site:

http://www.geocities.com/lilbugger225/spawn.html

I thought it was a heteractis malu but it could be aurora. It was sold to me as a flat purple anemone for 7 bucks. My avatar is a picture of it when it was younger so it is easier to see the rings.

LB 8)

 

[John_Brandt]

LilBugger, it looks like you have H. malu. These can sometimes have lumps or bulges on the tentacles, and not all of the tentacles will have them.

Here is a photo I found of H. aurora. This large specimen has highly-defined rings, even more so than Hwarang's.

Photo by Jim Kasson

 

[LilBugger225]

I Sprung's book The Reef Aquarium V2, It shows a pic of a possible hybrid between h. aurora and h. malu. This anemone looks pretty much exactly like mine. I agrees h. aurora has much more defined rings. I have found this type of anemone easy to keep since, at least in my case, it does not wander. It just likes a deep sandbed.

LB 8)

 

[John_Brandt]

LB, thanks for the heads-up on Julian's reference. I went and looked. I'm ditching my conviction on Hwarang's anemone being aurora. The Heteractis complex is obviously as genetically plastic as the clowns that inhabit them.

If Hwarang's anemone truly is a hybrid, it is neither aurora nor malu - it is Heteractis aurora x malu.