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The anemone Bunodosoma caissarum, endemic to Brazilian waters, is remarkable in several respects.
It is not the 120 - 500 tentacles that the anemone has, but two facts that are so unique in some respects:
The anemone captures millipedes, detached from the bottom substrate by wave action or by other predators, for its food (report in English is attached).
On December 31, 2006, the sea anemone was observed consuming an adult male of the millipede Otostigmus scabricauda.
It was located on a vertical concrete pier of the dock, approximately 25 cm below the water surface, during a spring tide with low swells among several sea anemones.
The millipede is a migratory predator very resilient to extreme environmental conditions and is found in both dry and wet habitats, including urban sewage systems and household plumbing.
Prey capture had already occurred when the observation was made. The centipede was caught by the head, and its posterior end was still outside the anemone.
There are two possibilities as to how the millipede and the anemone could have come into contact: the millipede crawled over the anemone during its hunt and touched its tentacles, or it was swept away by the wave action and washed up on the tentacles of the anemone.
The second possibility seems unlikely because the waves were very weak and the substrate was rough, so the centipede had a firm grip as it crawled through the intertidal zone.
Otostigmus scabricauda can reach a length of 7 - 11cm!
Bunodosoma caissarum is able to extract the toxic mercury from the seawater, absorb it in its body, and also release it, or degrade the chemical element with the help of microorganisms associated with the tissues and mucous secretions of this species.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X15000090
Synonyms:
Bunodosoma caiçarum
Bunodosoma caissarium
It is not the 120 - 500 tentacles that the anemone has, but two facts that are so unique in some respects:
The anemone captures millipedes, detached from the bottom substrate by wave action or by other predators, for its food (report in English is attached).
On December 31, 2006, the sea anemone was observed consuming an adult male of the millipede Otostigmus scabricauda.
It was located on a vertical concrete pier of the dock, approximately 25 cm below the water surface, during a spring tide with low swells among several sea anemones.
The millipede is a migratory predator very resilient to extreme environmental conditions and is found in both dry and wet habitats, including urban sewage systems and household plumbing.
Prey capture had already occurred when the observation was made. The centipede was caught by the head, and its posterior end was still outside the anemone.
There are two possibilities as to how the millipede and the anemone could have come into contact: the millipede crawled over the anemone during its hunt and touched its tentacles, or it was swept away by the wave action and washed up on the tentacles of the anemone.
The second possibility seems unlikely because the waves were very weak and the substrate was rough, so the centipede had a firm grip as it crawled through the intertidal zone.
Otostigmus scabricauda can reach a length of 7 - 11cm!
Bunodosoma caissarum is able to extract the toxic mercury from the seawater, absorb it in its body, and also release it, or degrade the chemical element with the help of microorganisms associated with the tissues and mucous secretions of this species.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X15000090
Synonyms:
Bunodosoma caiçarum
Bunodosoma caissarium
