Nutrition of Sea Anemones

doi:10.1016/S0065-2881(08)60050-4

Advances in Marine Biology

Volume 22, 1985, Pages 65-99

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2881(08)60050-4 Get rights and content

Publisher Summary

The absence of cytological studies on sea anemones during the first 60 years of the twentieth century led biologists to interpret their observations by reference to those of the nineteenth century or to those known in the most studied cnidarian, Hydra. Knowledge about nutrition of sea anemones is, therefore, restricted to one particular aspect— namely, the chemoreception of prey and its related behavior, and the symbiosis with zooxanthellae. The present knowledge of digestion and absorption of particulate organic matter and dissolved organic compounds has recently benefited from the progress of electron microscopy, enzymology, and the use of labeled radioactive compounds. This chapter discusses these advances and new trends in order to determine the importance of prey, particulate organic matter, dissolved compounds, and symbionts in the diet of sea anemones.

References (107)

J.R. Beers
The species distribution of some naturally occurring quarternary ammonium compounds
Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology
(1967)
N. Cates et al.
Differences of ammonia metabolism in symbiotic and aposymbiotic Condylactus and Cassiopea spp
Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
(1976)
K.B. Clark et al.
Effects of temperature on carbon fixation and carbon budget partitioning in the zooxanthellal symbiosis of Aiptasia pallida (Verrill)
Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
(1982)
L.A. Elyakova
Distribution of cellulases and chitinases in marine invertebrates
Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology
(1972)
K.J. Lindstedt et al.
Valine activation of feeding in the sea anemone
Boloceroides. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology
(1968)
I.D. McFarlane et al.
The nature of the adhesion of tentacles to shells during shell-climbing in the sea anemone
Calliactis parasitica. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
(1975)
R.N. Mariscal
Nematocysts
L. Muscatine
Endosymbiosis of Cnidarians and Algae
A.A. Reimer
Feeding behaviour in the sea anemone Calliactis polypus (Forskål, 1975)
Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology
(1973)
D. Schlichter
The extraction of specific proteins for the simultaneous ectodermal absorption of charged and neutral aminoacids by Anemonia sulcata

V.V. Sova et al.

The distribution of laminarinases in marine invertebrates

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology

(1970)

D.L. Taylor

The cellular interactions of algal-invertebrate symbiosis

Advances in Marine Biology

(1973)

Y. Tiffon et al.

Phagocytose et pinocytose par l'ectoderme et l'endoderme de Cerianthus lloydi, Gosse

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

(1974)

M. Van-Praët

Amylase, trypsin, and chymotrypsin-like proteases from Actinia equina L.; their role in the nutrition of the sea anemone

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology

(1982)

R.G. Aldred et al.

Ecological observations on the deep-sea anemone

Actinoscyphia aurelia. Oceanologica Acta

(1979)

L.W. Bennett et al.

Occurrence and possible functions of γ-glutamyl transpeptidase in external epithelia of Metridium senile (Cnidaria, Anthozoa)

Transactions of the American Microscopical Society

(1981)

J. Bouillon

Les cellules glandulaires des Hydroïdes et des Hydroméduses. Leur structure et la nature de leurs sécrétions

Cahiers de Biologie Marine

(1966)

K. Brandt

Ueber das Zusammenleben von Thieren und Algen

Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin

(1881)

T.A. Bunde et al.

Aminoethylphosphonic acid-containing glycoproteins: the acid mucopolysaccharide like components in mucus from

Metridium senile. Journal of Experimental Zoology

(1978)

O. Carlgren

Über die Bedeutung der Flimmerbewegung für den Nahrungstransport bei den Actiniarien und Madreporarien

Biologische Zentralblätter

(1905)

M. Chapeaux

Recherches sur la digestion des Coelentérés

Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générate

(1893)

F.S. Chia

Note on the assimilation of glucose and glycine from seawater by the embryos of a sea anemone

Actinia equina. Canadian Journal of Zoology

(1972)

C.B. Cook

Transfer of [³⁵S]labeled material from food ingested by Aiptasia sp. to its endosymbiotic zooxanthellae

P.K. Dayton

Two cases of resource partitioning in an intertidal community making the right prediction for the wrong reason

American Naturalist

(1973)

G.E. Dearlove et al.

Aminoethylphosphonic acid (AEP) containing glycoproteins in Metridium senile: [¹⁴C]AEP incorporation and electron probe microanalyses

Journal of Experimental Zoology

(1979)

Faurot, L. (1895). Etude sur l'anatomie, l'histologie, et le développement des Actinies. Thèse de Doctorat d'Etal, No....

L. Fredericq

Sur la digestion des albuminoïdes chez quelques invertébrés

Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générale

(1878)

H.D. Freudenthal

Symbiodinium gen. nov. and Symbiodinium microadriaticum sp. nov., a zooxanthella: taxonomy, life cycle and morphology

Journal of Protozoology

(1962)

M. Gabe

“Techniques Histologiques.”

(1968)

Gaill, F. (1981). Contribution à l'étude morphologique et fonctionnelle du rein et de la glande pylorique des Tuniciers...

D. Gibson et al.

Chymotrypsin-like proteases from the sea anemone

Metridium senile. Nature (London)

(1969)

W.B. Gladfelter

Sea anemone with zooxanthellae: Simultaneous contraction and expansion in response to changing light intensity

Science

(1975)

J.M. Gosline

Kinetics of incorporation of [¹⁴C]proline into mesogleal protocollagen and collagen of the sea anemone Aiptasia

C.R. Green

Intercellular junctions

L. Harris

Ecological observations on a New England nudibranch-anemone association

Echo

(1971)

O. Hertwig et al.

Die Actinien, anatomisch und histologisch mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Nervenmuskelsystems untersucht

Zeitschrift für Naturwissenschaften

(1879)

D.N. Hill-Maning et al.

Seasonal changes in the lipids of the sea anemone Metridium senile (L.)

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

(1979)

H. Hollard

Monographie anatomique du genre Actinia de Linné considéré comme type du groupe général des polypes zoanthaires

Annales des Sciences Naturelles

(1851)

M.C. Holley et al.

Reversal of direction of mucus-flow on the ciliated pharynx of the sea anemone

Journal of Experimental Biology

(1984)

H.H. Janssen et al.

Effects of various feeding conditions on

Anemonia sulcata. Zoologischer Anzeiger

(1981)

C. Jeuniaux

Digestion de la chitine chez les Actiniaires

Cahiers de Biologie Marine

(1962)

B.J. Krijgsman et al.

Experiments in digestion in sea anemone

Archives Internationales de Physiologie

(1953)

C. Krukenberg

Ueber den Verdauungsmodus der Actinien

Vergleichend-Physiologische Studien

(1880)

I.D. Lawn

Chemoreception and conduction systems in sea anemones

H.M. Lenhoff et al.

A view of the evolution of chemoreceptors based on research with Cnidarians

D.H. Lewis et al.

The autotrotophic nutrition of marine coelenterates with special reference to hermatypic corals. I. Movement of photosynthetic products between the symbionts

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London

(1971)

K.J. Lindsted

Chemical control of feeding behaviour

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology

(1971)

K.J. Lindstedt

Biphasic feeding response in a sea anemone: Control by asparagine and glutathione

Science

(1971)

J. Lizama et al.

Predation on sea anemones by the amphinomid polychete

Hermodice carunculata. Bulletin of Marine Science

(1975)

A.R. Loeblich et al.

Observations on the theca of the motile phase of free living and symbiotic isolates of Zooxanthella microadriatica (Frendenthal)

Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

(1979)

Cited by (44)

Evolution of the ribbon-like organization of the Golgi apparatus in animal cells
2024, Cell Reports
The “ribbon,” a structural arrangement in which Golgi stacks connect to each other, is considered to be restricted to vertebrate cells. Although ribbon disruption is linked to various human pathologies, its functional role in cellular processes remains unclear. In this study, we investigate the evolutionary origin of the Golgi ribbon. We observe a ribbon-like architecture in the cells of several metazoan taxa suggesting its early emergence in animal evolution predating the appearance of vertebrates. Supported by AlphaFold2 modeling, we propose that the evolution of Golgi reassembly and stacking protein (GRASP) binding by golgin tethers may have driven the joining of Golgi stacks resulting in the ribbon-like configuration. Additionally, we find that Golgi ribbon assembly is a shared developmental feature of deuterostomes, implying a role in embryogenesis. Overall, our study points to the functional significance of the Golgi ribbon beyond vertebrates and underscores the need for further investigations to unravel its elusive biological roles.
Evolutionarily conserved aspects of animal nutrient uptake and transport in sea anemone vitellogenesis
2022, Current Biology
Citation Excerpt :
Instead, our analyses of bead uptake assays and marker gene expression show that these activities are enriched in the tentacle gastrodermis as well as the IT, SGE, and TT mesenterial regions. In corals and symbiotic sea anemones (e.g., Exaiptasia), carbon-fixing Symbiodinium sp. dinoflagellates locate mainly to the tentacle gastrodermis and the IT and SGE regions.23,55 These parallels confirm the importance of these regions in nutrient acquisition in sea anemones and corals and raise questions about the symbionts’ ability to permanently populate these highly endocytic regions in some anthozoan species but not in others.
The emergence of systemic nutrient transport was a key challenge during animal evolution, yet it is poorly understood. Circulatory systems distribute nutrients in many bilaterians (e.g., vertebrates and arthropods) but are absent in non-bilaterians (e.g., cnidarians and sponges), where nutrient absorption and transport remain little explored at molecular and cellular levels. Vitellogenesis, the accumulation of egg yolk, necessitates high nutrient influx into oocytes and is present throughout animal phyla and therefore represents a well-suited paradigm to study nutrient transport evolution. With that aim, we investigated dietary nutrient transport to the oocytes in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis (Anthozoa). Using a combination of fluorescent bead labeling and marker gene expression, we found that phagocytosis, micropinocytosis, and intracellular digestion of food components occur within the gonad epithelium. Pulse-chase experiments further show that labelled fatty acids rapidly translocate from the gonad epithelium through the extracellular matrix (ECM) into oocytes. Expression of conserved lipid transport proteins vitellogenin (vtg) and apolipoprotein-B (apoB) and colocalization of labeled fatty acids with a fluorescently tagged ApoB protein further support the lipid-shuttling role of the gonad epithelium. Complementary oocyte expression of very low-density lipoprotein receptor (vldlr) orthologs, which mediate endocytosis of bilaterian ApoB- and Vtg-lipoproteins, supports that this evolutionarily conserved ligand/receptor pair underlies lipid transport during sea anemone vitellogenesis. In addition, we identified lipid- and ApoB-rich cells with potential lipid transport roles in the ECM. Altogether, our work supports a long-standing hypothesis that an ECM-based lipid transport system predated the cnidarian-bilaterian split and provided a basis for the evolution of bilaterian circulatory systems.
Experimental observation of microplastics invading the endoderm of anthozoan polyps
2020, Marine Environmental Research
Citation Excerpt :
It could be because endodermal cells would coincidentally catch and phagocytose microspheres that are flown by the water current within the body. The horizontal section of the body of Exaiptasia shows fluorescent microspheres located in the zone of phagocytosis (Van-Praët, 1985), in mesenterial filaments that have two lateral lobes distal to the median lobe (Fig. 4E and F). Microspheres did not enter oocytes at this stage (Fig. 4E).
Coral reefs are being degraded worldwide by land reclamation and environmental factors, such as high seawater temperature, resulting in mass bleaching events. In addition, microplastics disturb the formation of coral-algae symbiotic relationships in primary polyps. In our experiments, we observed this effect in the bleached primary polyp Seriatopora caliendrum that lost its symbiont Symbiodiniaceae as a result of high water temperature. There was a higher incorporation of microspheres into bleached corals than in healthy ones. To understand the interference in symbiosis, we used the sea anemone Exaiptasia (as an anthozoan model organism) and fed it with microspheres. TEM results suggested the incorporation of microspheres and symbionts from the same phagocytosis zones in the mesenterial filament and endocytosis by the cells. In the tentacles, microspheres were in the same cell layer as the symbionts. These results suggest that microplastics occupy the spaces inhabited by Symbiodiniaceae, thereby hindering their symbiotic association.
The hemisessile lifestyle and feeding strategies of Iosactis vagabunda (Actiniaria, Iosactiidae), a dominant megafaunal species of the Porcupine Abyssal Plain
2015, Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers
Citation Excerpt :
Neither feeding behaviour appeared to be modified by the presence of a layer of phytodetritus on the seabed, which was observed in the images between 17 June and 17 December 2012. Many deep-sea anemones are thought to be suspension feeders, and have been observed to modify their feeding behaviour to capture particles efficiently (Lampitt and Paterson, 1987; Van Praët, 1985). Burrowing actiniarians have been thought to exploit dissolved organic content in the sediment (Ammons and Daly, 2008).
Iosactis vagabunda Riemann-Zürneck, 1997 (Actiniaria, Iosactiidae) is a small endomyarian anemone, recently quantified as the greatest contributor to megafaunal density (48%; 2372 individuals ha⁻¹) on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP). We used time-lapse photography to observe 18 individuals over a period of approximately 20 months at 8-h intervals, and one individual over 2 weeks at 20-mine intervals, and report observations on its burrowing activity, and both deposit and predatory feeding behaviours. We recorded the apparent subsurface movement of an individual from an abandoned burrow to a new location, and burrow creation there. Raptorial deposit feeding on settled phytodetritus particles was observed, as was predation on a polychaete 6-times the estimated biomass of the anemone. Though essentially unnoticed in prior studies of the PAP, I. vagabunda may be a key component of the benthic community, and may make a critical contribution to the carbon cycling at the PAP long-term time-series study site.
The relationship between UV-irradiance, photoprotective compounds and DNA damage in two intertidal invertebrates with contrasting mobility characteristics
2015, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology
Citation Excerpt :
It is important to highlight this long lag-time, referred by Newman et al. (2000) as “co-acclimation”, as the levels of MAA found at higher trophic levels can depend upon the levels of UV-R that primary producers are exposed to during a previous temporal window [55]. A. tenebrosa is an omnivorous and opportunistic suspension feeder, feeding on phytoplankton, zooplankton and detritus [56]. Considering its feeding ecology, it is most likely that the six month lag-time in maximal MAA accumulation in A. tenebrosa is caused by both the time required for the organisms consumed to synthesize large quantities of MAA, and by an additive effect of the multiple lag-times associated with the different trophic levels between the primary producers and A. tenebrosa.
The photoprotective role of mycosporine-like amino acids (MAA) against the generation of DNA cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPD) was studied in the sessile intertidal anemone Actinia tenebrosa and the mobile intertidal gastropod Diloma aethiops through 27 months at a mid-latitude New Zealand location. MAA were sequestered by A. tenebrosa and D. aethiops from their diet, although maximum total MAA levels in both species were not correlated with seasonal variation in maximum ambient UV-B levels recorded at the collection site. Temporal changes in total MAA in A. tenebrosa showed a six months lag-time in their concentration regarding to the environmental UV-B levels. This lag period corresponded to an observed increase in CPD production from spring to summer; suggesting that MAA do not completely protect the anemone from UV-B during summer. For D. aethiops, total MAA concentrations did not change significantly during the study, although qualitative changes in MAA were apparent. A month lag-time in MAA concentration in D. aethiops and possibly the physical barrier that the shell confers to the animal, can explain reduced CPD levels in comparative terms with A. tenebrosa. Although MAA are used by invertebrates for photoprotection, contrasting mobility characteristics and the presence of physical adaptations can confer them important protection levels during temporal changes of UV-B at mid-latitude places of the Southern Hemisphere.
Trophic relationships and UV-absorbing compounds in a Mediterranean medio-littoral rocky shore community
2012, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
Organisms inhabiting shallow coastal ecosystems are potentially exposed to damaging levels of solar UV radiation. UV-sunscreen compounds such as mycosporine like amino-acids (MAAs) are a widespread biochemical strategy among many marine organisms to counteract UV stress. These molecules are produced through a metabolic pathway restricted to cyanobacteria, various algal groups and fungi. This study was designed to search for UV sunscreen compounds in benthic invertebrates of the Catalan medio-littoral rocky shore of the north-western Mediterranean Sea. The relationship between food sources and consumers was investigated using the stable isotope approach in order to elucidate the potential pathways of MAA transfer. The food web associated with the littoral Catalan rocky shore is characterized by a high level of functional complexity. The variability of δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N among and between trophic guilds provides evidence of the diversity of coexisting trophic levels and trophic pathways in a single habitat type. MAAs were present in all sampled metazoan species. We observed a higher MAA diversity in animals than in food sources. This may be explained by the incorporation of MAAs from several trophic resources, by the conversion of the MAAs acquired from the food or by translocation from a symbiont. The amount of MAAs in sea urchins was fairly low compared to other trophic groups. This cannot be explained by depletion of MAAs in their diets, and hence other UV-protective strategies may be more important. Complementary experimental studies should be performed to determine the ability of primary and secondary consumers to assimilate MAAs and convert these compounds.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Nutrition of Sea Anemones

Publisher Summary

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology

Boloceroides. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology

Calliactis parasitica. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology

Advances in Marine Biology

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology

Ecological observations on the deep-sea anemone

Actinoscyphia aurelia. Oceanologica Acta

Occurrence and possible functions of γ-glutamyl transpeptidase in external epithelia of Metridium senile (Cnidaria, Anthozoa)

Transactions of the American Microscopical Society

Les cellules glandulaires des Hydroïdes et des Hydroméduses. Leur structure et la nature de leurs sécrétions

Cahiers de Biologie Marine

Ueber das Zusammenleben von Thieren und Algen

Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin

Aminoethylphosphonic acid-containing glycoproteins: the acid mucopolysaccharide like components in mucus from

Metridium senile. Journal of Experimental Zoology

Über die Bedeutung der Flimmerbewegung für den Nahrungstransport bei den Actiniarien und Madreporarien

Biologische Zentralblätter

Recherches sur la digestion des Coelentérés

Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générate

Note on the assimilation of glucose and glycine from seawater by the embryos of a sea anemone

Actinia equina. Canadian Journal of Zoology

Transfer of [35S]labeled material from food ingested by Aiptasia sp. to its endosymbiotic zooxanthellae

Two cases of resource partitioning in an intertidal community making the right prediction for the wrong reason

American Naturalist

Aminoethylphosphonic acid (AEP) containing glycoproteins in Metridium senile: [14C]AEP incorporation and electron probe microanalyses

Journal of Experimental Zoology

Sur la digestion des albuminoïdes chez quelques invertébrés

Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générale

Symbiodinium gen. nov. and Symbiodinium microadriaticum sp. nov., a zooxanthella: taxonomy, life cycle and morphology

Journal of Protozoology

“Techniques Histologiques.”

Chymotrypsin-like proteases from the sea anemone

Metridium senile. Nature (London)

Sea anemone with zooxanthellae: Simultaneous contraction and expansion in response to changing light intensity

Science

Kinetics of incorporation of [14C]proline into mesogleal protocollagen and collagen of the sea anemone Aiptasia

Intercellular junctions

Ecological observations on a New England nudibranch-anemone association

Echo

Die Actinien, anatomisch und histologisch mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Nervenmuskelsystems untersucht

Zeitschrift für Naturwissenschaften

Seasonal changes in the lipids of the sea anemone Metridium senile (L.)

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

Monographie anatomique du genre Actinia de Linné considéré comme type du groupe général des polypes zoanthaires

Annales des Sciences Naturelles

Reversal of direction of mucus-flow on the ciliated pharynx of the sea anemone

Journal of Experimental Biology

Effects of various feeding conditions on

Anemonia sulcata. Zoologischer Anzeiger

Digestion de la chitine chez les Actiniaires

Cahiers de Biologie Marine

Experiments in digestion in sea anemone

Archives Internationales de Physiologie

Ueber den Verdauungsmodus der Actinien

Vergleichend-Physiologische Studien

Chemoreception and conduction systems in sea anemones

A view of the evolution of chemoreceptors based on research with Cnidarians

The autotrotophic nutrition of marine coelenterates with special reference to hermatypic corals. I. Movement of photosynthetic products between the symbionts

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London

Chemical control of feeding behaviour

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology

Biphasic feeding response in a sea anemone: Control by asparagine and glutathione

Science

Predation on sea anemones by the amphinomid polychete

Hermodice carunculata. Bulletin of Marine Science

Observations on the theca of the motile phase of free living and symbiotic isolates of Zooxanthella microadriatica (Frendenthal)

Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

Transfer of [³⁵S]labeled material from food ingested by Aiptasia sp. to its endosymbiotic zooxanthellae

Aminoethylphosphonic acid (AEP) containing glycoproteins in Metridium senile: [¹⁴C]AEP incorporation and electron probe microanalyses

Kinetics of incorporation of [¹⁴C]proline into mesogleal protocollagen and collagen of the sea anemone Aiptasia