Metridium farcimen: Difference between revisions

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''Metridium farcimen'' is a large sea anemone, occasionally reaching a height of one metre (39&nbsp;in) when fully extended.<ref name="WallaWalla">{{cite web |url=http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/departments/biology/rosario/inverts/Cnidaria/Class-Anthozoa/Subclass_Zoantharia/Order_Actiniaria/Metridium_giganteum.html |title=Metridium giganteum Fautin, Bucklin, and Hand, 1989 |last=Cowles |first=Dave |date=2005 |website=wallawalla.edu |publisher=Walla Walla University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003130340/http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/departments/biology/rosario/inverts/Cnidaria/Class-Anthozoa/Subclass_Zoantharia/Order_Actiniaria/Metridium_giganteum.html |archive-date=October 3, 2015 |url-status=dead |access-date=2017-11-26}}</ref> More usually it is {{convert|50|cm|0|abbr=on}} or less in height but is very variable in shape. It can retract its tentacles and form a ball up to {{convert|25|cm|0|abbr=on}} in diameter. The column is slender, smooth and studded with acontia. These are openings through which thread-like [[nematocyst]]s from inside the body wall can protrude. There are no tubercles and the column is topped by a parapet. The oral disc is lobed and deeply convoluted at the edge and bears well over 100 fine, short, tapering tentacles. The colour is generally opaque white, but orange, salmon and brown specimens sometimes occur.<ref name="WallaWalla" /> Large specimens have been seen to have long, thick, fighting tentacles, used to drive away other anemones trying to settle too close.<ref name=Actinaria>[http://actiniaria.com/metridium_farcimen.php ''Metridium farcimen'' (Brandt, 1835)] Actiniaria.com. Retrieved 2011-11-24.</ref> Some individuals on the edge of large colonies have several of these fighting tentacles on their lips, which they use to repel non-clonal anemones. <ref name=RaceRocks>[http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/ensy02/bend.htm ''Metridium farcimen''] Race Rocks. Retrieved 2011-11-24.</ref> These [[Colony (biology)|colonies]] emanate from one individual through [[cloning]]. ''Metridium farcimen'' might be confused with ''[[Metridium dianthus]]'' which occupies the same habitat and has a similar colour and form, but that species seldom exceeds {{convert|10|cm|0|abbr=on}} in height, has fewer than 100 tentacles and has an unlobed oral disc.<ref name="WallaWalla" />

''Metridium farcimen'' is a [[carnivore]]. It captures small invertebrates, [[zooplankton]] and other food particles with the nematocysts on its tentacles and thrusts them into the mouth in the centre of its oral disc. A study released in June 2021 found that these large anemones consume land-dwelling insects and ostracods.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1002/edn3.225|title = DNA metabarcoding provides insights into the diverse diet of a dominant suspension feeder, the giant plumose anemone Metridium farcimen|year = 2021|last1 = Wells|first1 = Christopher D.|last2 = Paulay|first2 = Gustav|last3 = Nguyen|first3 = Bryan N.|last4 = Leray|first4 = Matthieu|journal = Environmental DNA| volume=4 | pages=147–156 |s2cid = 236313301|doi-access = free}}</ref>