Types of sea anemones names. Sea anemones. Sea anemones are not polyps

XI INTERNATIONAL DISTANCE OLYMPIAD “ERUDITE” ON THE SUBJECT OF THE WORLD AROUND

Sample answers to assignments for grade 4

The maximum number of points awarded for completed tasks is 100 points

Task No. 1 (max 20 points):

Look carefully at the images of living organisms located in the table below.

How do these organisms move? If the method of transportation is unknown to you, then guess it.

If any of these living organisms have different modes of movement, be sure to indicate this.

If any organisms are familiar to you, write their names.

Image of a living organism	Name of a living organism	Description of the method of transportation
	Single-celled animal "Ciliate slipper"	It moves due to the work of cilia located on the surface of the cell body. If you look closely, you can see them in this photo. It is the vibrations of the cilia located on the surface of the body of the ciliate slipper that allow it to move in space.
	Starfish	For movement starfish ambulacral legs are used. In these echinoderms they can contract and extend to a considerable length. The star throws its legs forward and sticks them to the surface of the bottom, and then contracts them, pulling up their body. This is how it moves. The legs are driven by the pressure of water pumped into them.
	Jellyfish	It is typical for a jellyfish to “ jet propulsion", due to which it is capable of vertical movement. She takes in water and then forcefully pushes it out of the bell. Thanks to this, jellyfish move up or down, or diagonally, but they are unable to move horizontally. The jellyfish cannot move in a specific direction, so huge role Sea currents play a role in the movement of jellyfish.
	Cuttlefish	The cuttlefish is characterized by “reactive movement”, it draws water inside itself, and then pushes it out through a narrowed nozzle, while developing significant speed (sometimes reaching 50 km/h). For movement, cuttlefish also actively use a wave-like bending fin.
	Lobster	Lobsters usually move along the seabed using walking legs. But frightened lobsters can make great leaps in the water at reverse direction. To do this, they quickly and powerfully rake with their tail equipped with blades. Such a jump will allow the lobster to instantly bounce away from the source of danger to a distance of up to 7 meters.
	Octopus. This animal is a cephalopod.	The octopus is characterized by “jet motion”. It can swim backwards with its tentacles, propelling itself with a kind of “water-jet propulsion” - drawing water into the cavity in which the gills are located, and forcefully pushing it out in the direction opposite to the movement, through a funnel that plays the role of a nozzle. The octopus changes the direction of movement by turning the funnel. An octopus can move on a hard surface by crawling, using tentacles with suction cups.
	sea anemone	Adult sea anemones lead sedentary image life. The motile ones of sea anemones are the “dispersal larvae” (it is they that are capable of actively swimming and performing a dispersal function). Sometimes sea anemones enter into symbiotic relationships, for example, with hermit crabs. And then they have the opportunity to move in space at the expense of their partner - the symbiont. Sea anemones living on soft substrates cannot attach to the ground, so they can, if necessary, move slowly along the substrate. In this case, part of the fleshy sole is torn off the ground, pushed forward and secured there, and then the rest of the sole is pulled up.
	Freshwater hydra. This animal belongs to the coelenterate animals.	Freshwater hydra is capable of “walking.” To do this, the hydra bends in the desired direction until its tentacles touch the substrate on which it sits. Then, in literally stands on the “head” (that is, on the tentacles), and the sole, the opposite end of the body, is now on top. After which the hydra again begins to bend its body in the desired direction. The hydra moves in the desired direction as if tumbling. As a rule, hydra leads a sedentary lifestyle. It is also possible for the sole to slide very slowly over the mucus secreted by the cells of the sole.
	Leech. This animal belongs to the annelids.	The leech has three ways of moving in space: 1. Moving using “walking movements”. The leech has two suckers. First, it extends its body forward and attaches itself to an underwater object with a front suction cup. Then it releases the rear sucker and pulls its body towards the front end (front sucker). 2. The leech can also swim slowly, making wave-like movements with its entire body thanks to its well-developed muscles. 3. Very often a leech, Having attached itself to a fish or animal living in the water, it moves with the help of its “master”.
	Scallop	For scallop They are characterized by “reactive movement”; they move as if by jumping. Shell valves scallops, first open sharply, and then close sharply. As a result of this, water is forcefully pushed out of the “mantle cavity” in two powerful jets. It is these powerful jets that push the mollusk’s body forward. Large sea combs are capable of jumping up to 50 cm.

Z Task No. 2 (max 20 points):

You, like all Russian children, are probably very familiar with this cartoon character - a hedgehog lost in the fog. Most likely, you have seen a real, live hedgehog more than once in your life. But is it as familiar to you as it seems at first glance?

Answers to questions:

What reserves does a hedgehog make for the winter?

The hedgehog does not store supplies for the winter, since in winter it hibernates.

Where does he hide them?

AND

Rice. No. 1: Hedgehog in the fog.

going from the question to the first question “Nowhere”.

What does a hedgehog eat during the long, long winter?

Sleeping. It is in a state of hibernation.

Additional explanation:

Common hedgehogs They do not store food for the winter - neither apples, nor mushrooms, nor anything like that, since they are insectivorous animals.

In winter, the hedgehog hibernates. And during hibernation, the hedgehog uses its fat reserves accumulated in summer/autumn.

Task No. 3 (max 20 points):

Answers to biological riddles:

Who has more legs: five octopuses or four squids?

Same number of legs.

Octopuses have 8 legs, i.e. 8*5=40,

Squids have 10 legs, i.e. 4*10=40

Therefore, the same number of legs, i.e. 40 legs each.

This animal has two right legs and two left legs, two legs in front and the same number in back. How many legs does this animal have?

Four

Which berries with the letter “M” are sweet, and those with the letter “K” are bitter?

"M" - raspberry

"K" - viburnum

What kind of grain can grow... on a person?

Stye on the eye

The waist of which animal is the standard example of a thin waist for all women?

Wasp waist (wasp waist)

The name of which bird is heard all the time in the scaffolding?

Myna is a pink starling and the construction team "put it down!"

« Economic breed» dogs are

Breed Dachshund (dachshund is a clearly established level of tariffs, prices, payment).

Whose eyes are not afraid, but love to look at the sun?

Pansy (decorative flower).

Name the climbing animals.

Geckos (reptiles)

Which waterfowl wrote famous books?

Gogol

Task No. 4 (max 10 points):

Remember what you know about the structure of the human body.

Please take a close look at the table below.

Distribute the organs of the human body into their corresponding organ systems, using numbers and letters.

You can simply write the letters representing the organs in the column with organ systems.

Task No. 5 (max 20 points):

Take a close look at the matrix below and its hints.

Fill out the matrix by entering the missing letters in the names of the animals.

Please note that the names of all these animals end in -KA.

Find out how well you know animals?

And

With

Hints for the task.

An animal that looks like a mouse, but with a snout elongated into a proboscis.

One of the varieties bats with very wide ears.

A shrew with the tops of its teeth colored brownish-red.

A rodent that lives in steppes and deserts with a very short tail.

A small red rodent, very similar to a rat, but with a tufted tail, living in the desert.

Little monkey.

Field mouse.

A small rodent, similar to both a mouse and a jerboa, its tail is much longer than its body.

The largest of the toothed whales.

Barking pet.

Meowing pet.

Cute furry animal.

Artificially bred fur-bearing animal.

A small predatory animal.

Task No. 6 (max 10 points):

Try to guess old, Russian, folk riddles.

Sea anemones - coral polyps large size, which, unlike other corals, have a soft body. Sea anemones belong to separate class coral polyps, they are also related to jellyfish. They are also called sea anemones because they have such beautiful view that look like flowers.

Features of the appearance of sea anemones

The body consists of a cylindrical leg and a bunch of tentacles. The leg consists of circular and longitudinal muscles, thanks to which the sea anemone can stretch, shorten and bend. At the bottom of the leg there is a sole or pedal disc.

Mucus is released from the sea anemone's leg, which hardens, and the sea anemone adheres to the substrate. Other sea anemones have wide legs, with their help they cling, like an anchor, to loose soil, and the sole with a bladder acts as a fin. These types of sea anemones swim upside down.

At the upper end of the body is an oral disc, which surrounds a row or rows of tentacles. In one row the tentacles are the same, but in different rows they may differ in color and size. The tentacles are equipped with stinging cells, from which thin poisonous threads fly out. The mouth opening may be oval or round in shape.

Sea anemones are fairly primitive creatures that do not have complex sensory organs. The anemone's unequal system consists of a group of sensory cells located on the sole, base of the tentacles and around the mouth opening. These nerve cells respond to various stimuli, for example, cells near the mouth are able to distinguish substances, but do not respond to mechanical influence, and cells on the sole do not respond to chemical influence, but are sensitive to mechanical influence.

Most sea anemones have a naked body, but sea trumpet anemones have a chitinous cover, their leg looks like a tube, which is why they are called “tubular”. The bodies of some sea anemones are covered with grains of sand and various building material, which make the cover more durable.

The color is so diverse that even representatives of the same species can have different shades. Sea anemones can be all the colors of the rainbow: pink, red, green, orange, white and the like. Often the edges of the tentacles have a contrasting color. The body sizes of anemones vary over a wide range.

The body height of the smallest one, gonactinia, is 2-3 mm, the largest is the carpet anemone, with a diameter of up to 1.5 meters, and the height of the metridium sea anemone reaches 1 meter.

Distribution and habitats of sea anemones

Sea anemones live in all oceans and seas. Most these animals are concentrated in subtropical and tropical zones, but they are also found in the polar regions. For example, in the seas of the North Arctic Ocean lives the sea pink or metridium senile.

The habitats are quite diverse: from the depths of the ocean to the surf zone. Few species of anemones live at ocean depths of more than 1000 meters. Although sea anemones are mostly marine animals, certain species can live in fresh water. There are 4 species of sea anemones in the Black Sea, one species lives in the Sea of Azov.

Anemone lifestyle

Anemones that live in shallow water often have microscopic algae in their tentacles, which gives them a green tint and supplies them with nutrients. These sea anemones live in illuminated places and are active mainly during the day, as they depend on the photosynthesis of algae. And certain species cannot tolerate light at all. Sea anemones that live in the tidal zone have a clear diurnal regime, which is associated with the time of drying and flooding of the territory.

All sea anemones can be divided into 3 types according to their lifestyle: swimming, sessile and burrowing. Most sea anemones are sessile, the burrowing ones include the genera Haloclava, Edwardsia and Peachia, and only the genus Minyas is swimming.

Sea anemones are attached to the bottom using the so-called “sole”.

Sedentary sea anemones, contrary to their name, are capable of moving slowly. As a rule, they begin to move if something does not suit them, for example, lighting or lack of food. Sea anemones move in several ways. Some species arch their body and attach themselves to the ground with their oral disc, then tear off their leg and move it to a new place. Sessile jellyfish move in a similar way. Other species move their sole, alternately tearing off sections of it from the ground. And the third way - sea anemones lie on their sides and crawl like worms, while contracting different areas legs.

In fact, burrowing sea anemones do not burrow that often. They sit most of their lives, and they are called burrowers because they can burrow into the ground, and only the corolla of the tentacle remains visible from the outside. In order to dig a hole, sea anemone acts quite in an interesting way: collects water into the oral cavity, and alternately pumps it to one end of the body, and then to the other, so it goes deeper, like a worm, into the ground.

Sessile small gonactinia is sometimes capable of swimming; during swimming, it rhythmically moves its tentacles, its movements are similar to contraction of the dome. Floating species float passively on the water with the help of pneumocystis, and move with the help of the current.

Relationships between sea anemones and other marine inhabitants

Anemones lead a solitary lifestyle, but if conditions are favorable, then these polyps unite in colonies, forming beautiful blooming gardens. Basically, sea anemones do not show interest in their relatives, but some of them have a quarrelsome disposition. When these anemones touch a relative, they attack it with stinging cells, which cause tissue necrosis.

But sea anemones often get along well with other species of animals. The most striking example of symbiosis is the life of sea anemones and clown fish. Fish take care of polyps, cleaning them from food debris and various garbage, and sea anemones eat the remains of the clown fish’s prey. And shrimp often find shelter from enemies and food in the tentacles of sea anemones.

Sea anemones - beneficial organisms. They live in tropical and subtropical waters.

The relationship between adamsia sea anemones and hermit crabs is even better established. Only young Adamsia live independently, and then hermit crabs find them and attach them to their shells. In this case, the sea anemone is attached with its oral disc forward, thanks to which it gets food particles from the soil churned up by cancer. And sea anemone protects crayfish from enemies. Moreover, when a crayfish changes its home, it transfers the sea anemone to a new shell. If the cancer has not found its sea anemone, it tries to take it away from its fellow.

Feeding sea anemones

Some sea anemones send everything that touches their tentacles into the oral cavity, even pebbles and other inedible objects, while others spit out what cannot be eaten.

Polyps feed on various animal foods. Some species filter water and extract organic waste, others hunt for more big catch- little fish. For the most part, sea anemones feed on algae.

Anemone reproduction

Reproduction in sea anemones can occur sexually and asexually. Asexual reproduction occurs due to longitudinal division, in this case two individuals are obtained from one individual. This method of reproduction is found in the most primitive sea anemones, gonactinia. A mouth is formed in the middle of the leg of these sea anemones, after which the animal splits into two independent organisms. Since sea anemones are capable of asexual reproduction, they have a high ability to regenerate tissue: sea anemones quickly restore lost body parts.

Most sea anemones are dioecious. But there are no differences between male and female sea anemones. In certain species of sea anemones, both female and male reproductive cells can simultaneously form.

The process of fertilization in sea anemones can occur in the gastric cavity or in external environment.

In the first week of life, anemone larvae move freely in the water, due to which they are carried over long distances by the current. In some species, larvae develop in special pockets that are located on the bodies of the mother.

Phylum: Cnidaria (Coelenterata) Hatschek, 1888 = Coelenterates, cnidarians, cnidarians
Subphylum: Anthozoa Ehrenberg, 1834 = Corals, coral polyps
Class: Hexacorallia = Six-rayed corals
- Order: Actiniaria = Sea anemones, sea flowers, sea anemones

Anemones, sea anemones - order Actiniaria

Sea anemones or sea anemones (Actiniaria) are an order of the class of six-rayed corals, subphylum Corals or coral polyps (Anthozoa). About 1,500 species of sea anemones are known. Sea anemones are quite large, fleshy animals, reaching a height of one meter. They have soft tubular bodies that are completely devoid of a calcareous skeleton.

The body of sea anemones is cylindrical in shape, truncated at the top. It has a slit-like mouth surrounded by rows of tentacles. The body of sea anemones ends at the bottom with a “sole”, with the help of which the animal sticks, thus attaching itself to underwater objects.

At first glance, the similarity of the tentacles of sea anemones with the petals of flowers is striking, and most of all they resemble the flowers of chrysanthemums, dahlias and asters. Sea anemones can be colored in the most various colors. Among these animals there are species with purple, brown, snow-white, green and even pale blue bodies.

Sea anemones are widespread in the oceans. They live in Arctic latitudes and in equatorial waters, in coastal sands and on sea depths deprived of light, sinking to the bottom of the deepest oceanic trenches to depths of over 10,000 meters. Sea anemones can be found on algae, sponges, corals and other marine animals. However, most species of sea anemones prefer shallow coastal shallow waters and water with fairly high salinity. They live mostly alone and are able to travel short distances in search of shelter.

At the ends of the tentacles of some species of sea anemones, trapping threads are formed due to the formation here large number stinging capsules. At the same time, the stinging capsules serve the sea anemone both for attack and protection from enemies. The poison of the stinging threads, once it hits the victim, instantly paralyzes it as soon as the sea beauty touches them with its tentacles. Even a person who unintentionally touches an anemone develops a burn on the skin, and the hand swells for a long period. In addition, there is a general intoxication of the body, which is accompanied by headache and chills. After some time, the affected skin dies at the site of the burns, and deep, poorly healing ulcers form.

At the same time, the poison of the stinging capsules of sea anemones is still not an absolutely reliable means of protection against enemies. Thus, some mollusks pursue sea anemones, since they are more or less insensitive or insensitive to their poison, and some types of fish easily swallow sea anemones without harming themselves. But many small fish are excellent food for predatory sea anemones.

The peaceful coexistence of this sea “flower” and some fish, which is often found in nature, is also well known. Clown fish live among the tentacles of sea anemones without the slightest harm to themselves. And the secret is in the protective mucus shell with which these fish are covered; it is this that protects them from the poison of the sea anemone tentacles. Clown fish, even in search of food, do not swim far from the sea anemone, and in case of danger they immediately hide in the thicket of its tentacles. And the fish, in turn, eating their prey near the mouth of the sea anemone and losing its remains, as if feeding their protector, and by active movements of their fins they significantly improve her gas exchange. Thus, from such cohabitation both clown fish and sea anemone receive mutual benefit, so their union is strong.

There are other cases of symbiosis between sea anemones and marine organisms. And the most classic example of such a relationship is the symbiosis of sea anemones and hermit crabs. And it happens like this: the hermit crab Eupagurus excavatus looks for an empty mollusk shell with an anemone already attached to it for housing, and if such a find is found, it crawls from its shell into the found one. Or maybe the crayfish can carefully remove the sea anemone from the stone and transplant it onto its shell...

Sea anemones feed mainly on various small invertebrates; sometimes their prey is fish, which they first kill or paralyze with the “batteries” of their stinging cells or cnidocytes, and only after that they pull them to their mouths with the help of tentacles. Large species Sea anemones also feed on crabs and bivalves. The edges of their mouth can swell, forming something like a lip, which also helps in capturing prey.

Sea anemones such as Metridium, Radianthus and Stichodactyla, which have numerous tentacles, feed mainly on food particles suspended in the water. But the anemone Stichodactyla helianthus is capable of catching sedentary sea urchins, covering them with his muscular oral disc. Those anemones that feed on particles suspended in water catch plankton inhabitants with the help of sticky mucus covering the surface of the body and tentacles. Cilia located on the surface of the body always direct prey towards the oral disc, and cilia on the tentacles move food particles to the tips of the tentacles, after which the tentacles bend and send food into the mouth.

In sea anemones, both asexual and sexual reproduction can be observed. Asexual reproduction, which occurs through division or fragmentation of the body, is quite common for sea anemones. The agamic species Aiptasia pallida, Haliplanella luciae and Metridium senile are characterized by a very specialized form of fragmentation, the so-called pedal laceration. In this case, small fragments of the edge of the sole can be separated from the sea anemone when it moves, or they can simply crawl to the sides from the motionless sea anemone. As a result of this spreading around the base of the parent’s body, a kind of “witch’s ring” of young small anemones is formed, into which individual fragments of the mother’s sole soon turn. Asexual reproduction by longitudinal division of the body is also observed in representatives of many species of sea anemones, but division in the transverse direction is rare, in particular in Gonactinia prolifera and Nematostella vectensis.

Sexual reproduction provide both dioecious and hermaphroditic sea anemones. The gonads are located on the septa, which look like longitudinal swollen cords lying between the mesenteric filament and the retractor muscle. Fertilization and development of eggs can occur both in the gastric cavity and in sea water during external fertilization. The planula larva, which may be planktotrophic or lecithotrophic, after a certain period of time (varies among different types), undergoes metamorphosis, turning into a new individual sea anemone.

Sea anemone received its second name - sea anemone - for extraordinary beauty. This sea creature and really looks like beautiful flower. Unlike other coral polyps, the sea anemone has a soft body. According to biological classification, sea anemones are a type of coelenterates, a class of coral polyps. They are closely related to jellyfish.

The sea anemone has a soft body compared to other corals.

Description of sea anemone

To determine whether an anemone is an animal or a plant, it is necessary to study the features of its structure. Sea anemone belongs to the animal kingdom. Its body has a cylindrical shape. On top it is decorated with a corolla of tentacles.

External features

Sea anemones come in a variety of colors. In nature there are varieties of all colors and shades. Many varieties have contrasting tentacle colors, which makes these animals even more attractive.

The sizes of these coelenterates are also strikingly diverse:

the height of the gonactinium does not exceed 3 mm;
diameter carpet anemone reaches 1.5 m;
The height of the Metridium salami species can be up to 1 m.

Body structure

The main part of the body - the leg - consists of muscles that are located in a ring and longitudinally. Thanks to the contractions of these muscles, the polyp can bend and change its length. On the lower part of the leg there is a so-called sole. Its surface is structured differently in different species. Some “root” in loose soil with the help of their soles, while others secrete a special substance with which they attach to hard surfaces. In the genus Minyas, the sole is equipped with a pneumocystis - a special bladder that acts as a float and allows the sole to float upward.

The muscle fibers of the leg are surrounded by the intercellular substance mesoglea, which has a dense cartilaginous consistency and gives the body elasticity.

On the upper part of the body there is an oral disc, around which tentacles are located in several rows. In one row, all tentacles are the same, but in different rows they can differ significantly in appearance and structure. Each tentacle is equipped with stinging cells that release thin poisonous threads.

The oral disc leads into the pharynx, and from there a passage opens into the gastric cavity - a primitive resemblance to the stomach. Nervous system the sea anemone is very simple, it is represented clusters of sensory neurons around the oral disc and in the sole area:

nerve cells around the sole react only to mechanical stress;
accumulations around the mouth opening and tentacles are distinguished chemical composition substances.

Habitats

Sea anemone is a coelenterate organism distributed throughout the world. Most varieties can be found in tropical latitudes, but individual species live even in the polar regions, where the temperature environment very low. The species Metridium, or sea pink, lives in the Arctic Ocean.

The depth of the animal’s habitat is also striking in its diversity. Sea anemone can live both in the surf zone, where it falls on land at low tide, and in the very depths of the seas and oceans. Some species have adapted to survive at depths of more than 1000 meters. In the waters of the Black Sea, 4 species of these polyps were found, and in the Sea of Azov - 1 species.

Shallow-water inhabitants often rely on photosynthesis as microscopic algae take up residence in their tentacles. These varieties are common in areas with good lighting and are active during daylight hours.

Other varieties, on the contrary, do not like bright light and tend to go deeper.

Lifestyle and nutrition

Sea anemone feeds on organic food. These polyps can catch and perceive their prey in different ways:

some species swallow everything, including small pebbles and debris;
some sea anemones throw out all the inedible objects that they come across;
the largest and most predatory ones catch and kill small fish that happen to be nearby;
some polyps live in symbiosis with algae and feed on them.

A “hungry” sea anemone opens its tentacle-rays wide and catches everything that floats past it. After the sea anemone has had enough, it rolls its tentacles into a ball and hides them. The same reaction is observed when it dries out or when danger approaches.

All sea anemones are usually divided into three varieties:

sessile;
floating;
burrowing.

Sessile species are so named rather arbitrarily because they are able to move slowly. Polyps begin to move when they have little food, too little or too much light. Movement can be carried out in several ways:

“somersaults” - when sea anemones stick to the ground with their mouth and tear off the leg, moving it to another place;
alternately tearing off one or the other part of the sole from the soil;
crawling, contracting different muscles of the body.

Burrowing sea anemones sit most of the time, buried in the ground so that only the corolla remains outside. In order to make a hole for itself, the animal takes water into the gastric cavity and pumps it, thus going deeper into the soil.

Floating species float on the water and surrender to the force of the current. They can move their tentacles rhythmically or use pneumocystis.

Polyps begin to move when they have little food, too little or too much light.

Reproduction methods

Sea anemones reproduce in different ways. In the asexual method, the body of the polyp is divided longitudinally to form two individuals. The exception is Gonactinia - the most primitive species, which is divided transversely. In the middle of the polyp's stalk, a second mouth opening is formed, then two separate individuals are formed.

Some organisms reproduce by budding from the lower part of the stalk to form several new individuals.

These coelenterates are mostly dioecious, although external signs It may be impossible to distinguish males and females from each other. Sexual reproduction occurs as follows:

In the thickness of the intercellular substance, germ cells are formed.
Fertilization can occur in the gastric cavity or in water.
As a result, planulae (larvae) are formed, which are freely carried over long distances by the current.

Sea anemones can reproduce both sexually and asexually.

Interaction with other organisms

Although sea anemones are a type of solitary polyp, in some situations these organisms can aggregate and form giant colonies. Most sea anemones are indifferent to their own kind, although some species can be very aggressive and quarrelsome.

Sea anemones can coexist very closely with other species of marine animals and plants. A common example is the symbiosis with the clownfish. The sea anemone “eats up” the prey after the fish, and the fish, in turn, cleans the polyp of debris and food debris.

Often small shrimps act as symbionts: they hide from enemies among the tentacles of the sea anemone and at the same time cleanse them of organic residues and debris.

Adamsia sea anemones can only live in symbiosis with hermit crabs, which attach polyps to their shells. In this case, the sea anemone is positioned in such a way that its oral disc is directed forward and food particles fall into it. Cancer, in turn, receives reliable protection from predators. By changing the shell, the hermit will transfer the sea anemone to the new “home”. If cancer somehow loses “its” polyp, it can even take it away from a relative. This existence benefits both species.

Sea anemones are unusual in beauty and quite mysterious in their way of life. But where do sea anemones live? What are their appearance? Now we'll find out...

Scientists have argued for a long time about what type of animal these creatures belong to, because they have something in common with both corals and jellyfish, and outwardly sea anemones generally look like underwater plants.

The modern classification refers specifically to coral polyps, moreover, these living organisms are among the most major representatives corals

Another name for sea anemones is sea anemones; the animals received this name precisely because of their resemblance to flowers.

The structure of the sea anemone is a body consisting of a corolla of tentacles and a cylindrical leg. At the base of the leg there are muscles (longitudinal and circular). The end of the leg may have a so-called sole.

Sea anemones are bottom-dwelling plants, so they need to gain a foothold on the surface of the ground; they do this with the help of various devices.

Some representatives of this type of coral secrete a special mucus, which tends to harden over time and thus firmly anchors the animal’s body to the substrate. Other anemones have such a large and strong leg that they are able to bury it in the ground and in this way securely attach themselves to the underwater soil.

But among sea anemones there are exceptions, those that do not live on the bottom of the sea, but float freely in the water column. They are also called floats. In the sole of such species there is a special bubble that prevents the animal from sinking to the bottom and constantly maintains it in a floating state.

Upper part The legs of the sea anemone have a mouth opening represented by a disk surrounded by many tentacles, which are arranged in rows.

These same tentacles are equipped with stinging cells that can shoot a thin thread containing a poisonous secretion. If you look at the sea anemone's body, you will notice pronounced radial symmetry.

As for the various sensory organs inherent in most living organisms, sea anemones in this sense can be called one of the most primitive.

The nervous system of these animals consists of sensory cells located at the base of the tentacles, around the oral disc, and also on the sole.

Home distinctive feature these sea creatures, undoubtedly, is their color. It is not for nothing that they are called sea flowers, because their colors contain the brightest tones: pink, orange, red, white, brown, green, yellow and others. In some species, you can find a whole rainbow palette on the body, since the body has one color, and the tentacles are painted in a contrasting shade.

The size of sea anemones is also surprising: the smallest representatives of this group of animals can have a millimeter height, and there are also giants whose “height” reaches one meter.

The smallest sea anemone discovered by scientists is considered to be the Gonactinia prolifera sea anemone; its height is only 2 millimeters.

These animals are widespread in all oceans and seas; the greatest species diversity is manifested in tropical and subtropical zones. Sea anemones have acclimatized even in icy waters Arctic Ocean.

According to their feeding method, sea anemones are predators. Some species swallow everything into themselves (both stones and paper), others, after accidentally swallowing an extra object, spit out the unnecessary.