Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5353 No. 4: 11 Oct. 2023
Type: Article
Published: 2023-10-11
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5353.4.5
Page range: 379-392
Abstract views: 460
PDF downloaded: 19

Bellactis lux n. sp. (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Actiniaria: Aiptasiidae), a new sea anemone from the Gulf of Mexico

Department of Evolution; Ecology & Organismal Biology; The Ohio State University; Columbus Ohio USA 43210
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; 100 8 Avenue SE; St. Petersburg; FL 33701; USA
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; 100 8 Avenue SE; St. Petersburg; FL 33701; USA
Department of Evolution; Ecology & Organismal Biology; The Ohio State University; Columbus Ohio USA 43210
Coelenterata Cnidaria Anthozoa Actiniaria Aiptasiidae

Abstract

Here we describe a new species of sea anemone from the family Aiptasiidae based on specimens collected from the Gulf of Mexico (USA: Florida & Alabama). Accounts of this species have been known since the early 1990’s, primarily from an underwater field guide and hobbyist aquarium literature under the name “Lightbulb Anemone.” We describe it as a new species from the genus Bellactis based on anatomy, histology, and cnidom. Members of this species are small in size, with a smooth, typically contracted column divided into regions based on color and bearing rows of two or three elevated cinclides in the mid column. Their tentacles are distinctive, translucent, distally inflated and can be bulbous in shape, with sub annular rings. This description synthesizes information about Bellactis and contextualizes what is known about its diversity in light of other members of the Aiptasiidae.

 

References

  1. Andras, J.P., Rypien, K.L. & Harvell, C.D. (2013) Range-Wide Population Genetic Structure of the Caribbean Sea Fan Coral, Gorgonia Ventalina. Molecular Ecology, 22 (1), 56–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.12104
  2. Baeza, J.A. & Fuentes, M.S. (2013) Phylogeography of the shrimp Palaemon floridanus (Crustacea: Caridea: Palaemonidae): A partial test of meta‐population genetic structure in the wider Caribbean. Marine Ecology, 34 (4), 381–393. https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.12038
  3. Baumgarten, S., Simakov, O., Esherick, L.Y., Liew, Y.J., Lehnert, E.M., Michell, C.T. & Voolstra, C.R. (2015) The genome of Aiptasia, a sea anemone model for coral symbiosis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112 (38), 11893–11898. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1513318112
  4. Bellis, E.S., Edlund, R.B., Berrios, H.K., Lessios, H.A. & Denver, D.R. (2018) Molecular signatures of host specificity linked to habitat specialization in Exaiptasia sea anemones. Ecology and Evolution, 8 (11), 5413–5426. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4058
  5. Brooker, R.M., Feeney, W.E., Sih, T.L., Ferrari, M.C. & Chivers, D.P. (2019) Comparative diversity of anemone-associated fishes and decapod crustaceans in a Belizean coral reef and seagrass system. Marine Biodiversity, 49, 2609–2620. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-019-00993-5
  6. Carlgren, O.H. (1893) n.k. In: Studien über nordische Actinien I. Bd. 25. PA Nordstedt & Söner, Stockholm, pp. 4–192.
  7. Carlgren, O.H. (1924) Actiniaria from New Zealand and Its Subantarctic Islands. Papers from Dr. Th. Mortensen’s Pacific Expedition 1914–16. XXI). Vidensk Medd Dansk Naturh Foren, 77, 179–261.
  8. Carlgren, O.H. (1941) Corallimorpharia, Actinaria, and Zoantharia. I Kommisjon hos J. Dybwad.
  9. Daly, M., McFadden, C.S., Brugler, M.R., Cartwright, P., Collins, A.G., Dawson, M.N. & Stake, J.L. (2007) The phylum Cnidaria: a review of phylogenetic patterns and diversity 300 years after Linnaeus, In Linnaeus Tercentenary: Progress in Invertebrate Taxonomy. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. & Shear, W.A. (Eds.), Zootaxa, 1668 (1), pp. 127–182. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1668.1.11
  10. DeBiasse, M.B., Richards, V.P., Shivji, M.S. & Hellberg, M.E. (2016) Shared phylogeographical breaks in a Caribbean coral reef sponge and its invertebrate commensals. Journal of Biogeography, 43 (11), 2136–2146. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.12785
  11. Dube, V.M. (1983) Contribuição Ao Estudo de Anêmonas-Do-Mar Do Esta Do Da Bahia. Natura, 83 (5), 82–93.
  12. Delle, C.S. (1823) Memorie sulla storia e notomia degli animali senza vertebre del regno di Napoli. Vol. 1. Dalla stamperia de’Fratelli Fernandes, Napoli, 11 + 84 + 184 pp.
  13. Duchassaing de Fonbressin, P. & Michelotti, J. (1860) Mémoire sur les Coralliaires des Antilles. Extrait des Mémoires de l’Académie des Sciences de Turin. Série II. Tome XIX. L’Imprimerie Royale, Turin, 89 pp., 10 pls. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.11388
  14. England, K.W. (1992) Actiniaria (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) from Hong Kong with additional data on similar species from Aden, Bahrain and Singapore. The marine flora and fauna of Hong Kong and Southern China, 3, 699–705.
  15. Fautin, D.G. & Goodwill, R.H. (2009) * Neoaiptasia morbilla* new species (Cnidaria: Actiniaria), a sea anemone symbiont of sand-dwelling gastropods on Saipan, Mariana Islands, with comments on some other such associations. Micronesica, 41 (1), 101–115.
  16. Field, L.R. (1949) Sea anemones and corals of Beaufort, North Carolina. Duke University Press. Durham, 39 pp. [pp. 6 + 16–17 + 20, pl. II, figs. 16–18 + 20–22.
  17. Glon, H., Daly, M., Carlton, J.T., Flenniken, M.M. & Currimjee, Z. (2020) Mediators of invasions in the sea: life history strategies and dispersal vectors facilitating global sea anemone introductions. Biological Invasions, 22 (11), 3195–3222. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-020-02321-6
  18. Gosse, P.H. (1858) XL.—Synopsis of the families, genera, and species of the British Actiniæ. Annals and Magazine of natural History, Series 3, 1 (6), 414–419. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222935808696950
  19. Grajales, A. & Rodriguez, E. (2014) Morphological revision of the genus Aiptasia and the family Aiptasiidae (Cnidaria, Actiniaria, Metridioidea). Zootaxa, 3826 (1), 55–100. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3826.1.2
  20. Grajales, A. & Rodríguez, E. (2016) Elucidating the evolutionary relationships of the Aiptasiidae, a widespread cnidarian-dinoflagellate model system (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Actiniaria: Metridioidea). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 94, 252–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2015.09.004
  21. Grajales, A. & Rodríguez, E. (2019) Case 3790–proposed review of opinion 2404 and reconsideration of case 3633: Dysactis pallida agassiz in verrill, 1864 (currently Exaiptasia pallida; Cnidaria, anthozoa, hexacorallia, actiniaria): proposed precedence over Exaiptasia diaphana (rapp, 1829). The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, 76 (1), 127–131. https://doi.org/10.21805/bzn.v76.a036
  22. Griffiths, S.M., Butler IV, M.J., Behringer, D.C., Pérez, T. & Preziosi, R.F. (2021) Oceanographic features and limited dispersal shape the population genetic structure of the vase sponge Ircinia campana in the Greater Caribbean. Heredity, 126 (1), 63–76. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-020-0344-6
  23. Gravenhorst, J.L.C. (1831) Tergestina, oder Beobachtungen und Untersuchungen über einige bei Triest im Meere lebende Arten der Gattungen Octopus, Doris, Pinna, Ascidia, Serpula, Echinus, Asterias, Ophiura, Holothuria, Actinia, Caryophyllia, Actinotus. Korn, Breslau, IX + 166 pp.
  24. Hertwig, R. (1882) Die Actinien der Challenger expedition, Rep. scient. Results Voyage HMS Challenger, 6, 1–120.
  25. Huebner, L.K., Dailey, B., Titus, B.M., Khalaf, M. & Chadwick, N.E. (2012) Host preference and habitat segregation among Red Sea anemonefish: effects of sea anemone traits and fish life stages. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 464, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09964
  26. Hurt, C., Silliman, K., Anker, A. & Knowlton, N. (2013) Ecological speciation in anemone‐associated snapping shrimps (Alpheus armatus species complex). Molecular ecology, 22 (17), 4532–4548. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.12398
  27. Sueur, L. (1817) Observations on several species of the genus Actinia: Illustrated by figures. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1 (6), 149–154 + 169–189, pls. 7–8.
  28. McFadden, C.S., Quattrini, A.M., Brugler, M.R., Cowman, P.F., Dueñas, L.F., Kitahara, M.V. & Rodríguez, E. (2021) Phylogenomics, origin, and diversification of Anthozoans (Phylum Cnidaria). Systematic Biology, 70 (4), 635–647. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syaa103.
  29. Ocaña, O., Den Hartog, J.C., Brito, A., Moro, L., Herrera, R., Martín, J. & Bacallado, J.J. (2015) A survey on Anthozoa and its habitats along the Northwest African coast and some islands: new records, descriptions of new taxa and biogeographical, ecological and taxonomical comments. Part I. Available from: http://rua.ua.es/dspace/handle/10045/52860 (accessed 2 October 2023)
  30. Oliveira, T.G.L. & Gomes, P.B. (2005) Primeira descrição do comportamento de Bellactis ilkalyseae (Cnidaria: Actiniaria) durante o processo de reprodução assexuada. Tropical Oceanography, 33 (1), 67–72. https://doi.org/10.5914/tropocean.v33i1.5071
  31. Parulekar, A. (1969) Neoaiptasia commensali, gen. et. sp. nov.: an actiniarian commensal of hermit crabs. J. Bombay Natural History Society, 66 (1), 57–62.
  32. Pax, D.F. (1912) Les Actinies de la côte du Pérou recueillies par le Dr P. Rivet. Vol. 9. Gauthier-Villars, Imprimeur Libraire du Bureau des Longitudes, del’Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, 28 pp.
  33. Pax, F. (1924) Actiniarien, Zoantharien und Ceriantharien von Curaçao. Kungliga Zoologisch Genootschap Natura Artis Magistra, Amsterdam, 23, 93–122. https://doi.org/10.1163/26660644-02301007
  34. Humason, G.L., Presnell, J.K. & Schreibman, M.P. (1997) Humason’s animal tissue techniques. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 572 pp.
  35. Rädecker, N., Raina, J.B., Pernice, M., Perna, G., Guagliardo, P., Kilburn, M.R. & Voolstra, C.R. (2018) Using Aiptasia as a model to study metabolic interactions in cnidarian-Symbiodinium symbioses. Frontiers in Physiology, 9, 214. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.00214
  36. Rapp, W. (1829) Ueber die Polypen im Allgemeinen und die Actinien insbesondere. im Verlage des Grossherzogl. Sächs. privileg. Landes-Industrie-Comptoirs, Weimar, iv + 62 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.14424
  37. Rodríguez, E., Fautin, D.G. & Daly, M. (2022) “World List of Actiniaria.”Exiptasia pallida. Exaiptasia pallida (Agassiz in Verrill, 1864). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species. Available from: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=888637 (accessed 2 October 2023)
  38. Rodríguez, E., Barbeitos, M., Daly, M., Gusmao, L.C. & Häussermann, V. (2012) Toward a natural classification: phylogeny of acontiate sea anemones (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Actiniaria). Cladistics, 28 (4), 375–392. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-0031.2012.00391.x
  39. Rodríguez, E., Barbeitos, M.S., Brugler, M.R., Crowley, L.M., Grajales, A., Gusmão, L. & Daly, M. (2014) Hidden among sea anemones: the first comprehensive phylogenetic reconstruction of the order Actiniaria (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Hexacorallia) reveals a novel group of hexacorals. PLoS One, 9 (5), e96998. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096998
  40. Stark, T.E., Simoes, N. & Daly, M. (2021) Phylogeography and genetic diversity of the commercially-collected Caribbean blue-legged hermit crab (Clibanarius tricolor). Conservation Genetics, 22, 465–482. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-021-01348-z
  41. Stephenson, T.A. (1918) Coelenterata. Part I.—Actiniaria. Natural History Reports on British Antarctic (“Terra Nova”) Expedition 1910, 5 (1), 1–51
  42. Taylor, M.S. & Hellberg, M.E. (2006) Comparative phylogeography in a genus of coral reef fishes: biogeographic and genetic concordance in the Caribbean. Molecular Ecology, 15 (3), 695–707. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.02820.x
  43. Thornhill, D.J., Xiang, Y., Pettay, D.T., Zhong, M. & Santos, S.R. (2013) Population genetic data of a model symbiotic cnidarian system reveal remarkable symbiotic specificity and vectored introductions across ocean basins. Molecular ecology, 22 (17), 4499–4515. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.12416
  44. Titus, B.M., Blischak, P.D. & Daly, M. (2019) Genomic signatures of sympatric speciation with historical and contemporary gene flow in a tropical anthozoan (Hexacorallia: Actiniaria). Molecular Ecology, 28 (15), 3572–3586. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15157
  45. Verrill, A.E. (1864) Revision of the Polypi of the Eastern Coast of the United States. Printed for the Museum, Cambridge, 46 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.78052
  46. Verrill, A.E. (1853) Synopsis of the polyps and corals of the North Pacific Exploring Expedition, under Commodore C. Ringgold and Capt. John Rodgers, USN, from, 1856, 75–104. Collected by Dr. Wm. Stimpson, Naturalist to the Expedition. Part IV. Actiniaria [First part]. Communications of the Essex Institute, 5 (3), 315–330
  47. Volk, D.R., Konvalina, J.D., Floeter, S.R., Ferreira, C.E. & Hoffman, E.A. (2021) Going against the flow: Barriers to gene flow impact patterns of connectivity in cryptic coral reef gobies throughout the western Atlantic. Journal of Biogeography, 48 (2), 427–439. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14010
  48. Watzl, O. (1922) Die Aktiniarien der Bahamainseln. Arkiv för Zoologi, 14 (24), 1–89. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.7726
  49. Wirtz, P., de Melo, G. & de Grave, S. (2009) Symbioses of decapod crustaceans along the coast of Espírito Santo, Brazil. Marine Biodiversity Records, 2, e162. https://doi.org/10.1017/S175526720999087X