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{{Short description|Species of sea anemone}}
{{Italic title}}
{{
| name = Giant plumose anemone
| image = Metridium_farcimen_-_MBA_-_DSC06985.JPG
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==Description==
''Metridium farcimen'' is a large sea anemone, occasionally reaching a height of one metre (39 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>
==Distribution==
''Metridium farcimen'' is found on the western seaboard of the United States and Canada. Its range extends from [[Alaska]] southwards to [[California]]. It is at its most common in [[Puget Sound]] and around [[Vancouver Island]].<ref name="WallaWalla" /> It is found in the [[Neritic zone|sublittoral zone]] on rocks, [[mollusc shell]]s, pilings, docks and other man-made structures and even in polluted waters.<ref name=Actinaria/> It is also found at great depths, near [[hydrothermal vent]]s, [[Cold seep|cold water seeps]] and decomposing whale
[[File:Metridium farcimen - TokyoSeaLifePark - 2019-1-8.webm|thumb|(video) White-plumed anemone]]
==Biology==
''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>
Large anemones have few predators but smaller specimens are eaten by the Reproduction takes place with the liberation of eggs and sperm from the gonads embedded in the body wall which are then ejected through the mouth. Fertilised eggs develop into [[planula]] [[larva]]e. After several moults, these settle and [[Metamorphosis|metamorphose]] into [[polyp (zoology)|polyp]]s. ''Metridium farcimen'' occurs as solitary individuals or as congregations of genetically distinct individuals and does not replicate asexually (Bucklin, 1987a). Individuals can live for many years.<ref name="WallaWalla" />
==References==
{{Reflist}}▼
{{Commons category|Metridium farcimen}}
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{{Taxonbar|from=Q2300011}}
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[[Category:Animals described in 1809]]
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