Stichodactyla gigantea

Riesenanemone ( Stichodactyla gigantea ) with Amphiprion ocellaris

The Riesenanemone ( Stichodactyla gigantea ) is a sea anemone from the tropical coral reefs of the Red Sea and the Indopazifiks. Gigantea Contrary to its German Trivalnamens and the Art epithet she is not the greatest Seeanemonenart, but only significantly larger than the previously known European explorers Seanemonen, as they discovered in the Red Sea Stichodactyla gigantea for the first time. The largest sea anemone is Anemone Mertens ( Stichodactyla mertensii ).

Dissemination

In the Indian Ocean, she lives in the Gulf of Aden and in the coral reefs on the coasts of southern India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives to the southern Andaman Sea and the coast of Indonesia, but not in the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. In the Pacific, they inhabited the coasts of Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands also the waters around New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and the Great Barrier Reef on the northeast coast of Australia, as well as Südmikronesien. It is locally very common, occurs mainly in very shallow water and can even be exposed at low tide.

Features

Giant anemones are white, green or yellow-brown color. Their folded mouth plate reached a diameter of up to 50 centimeters. It is usually yellowish, pink, green colored blue or gray-green, the foot more gray or brown, rarely pink, blue, green or purple. The tentacles of often contrasting with the oral disc color and then blue or maroon. The tentacles of the anemone sting not, but are very sticky and tear from when a diver withdraws his hand.

Way of life

The Riesenanemone lives on sandy soils between rocky and coral reefs. With danger she slowly withdraws into the substrate. She lives with zooxanthellae in symbiosis from which it receives a portion of their required nutrients. The Riesenanemone is a Symbioseanemone and important symbiotic partners of the anemone fish. A total of seven species of anemone fish, including the two species of clownfish accept them as partners.