Tube-dwelling anemone
| Tube-dwelling anemones | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Cerianthus sp. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Class: | Anthozoa |
| Subclass: | Ceriantharia |
| Order: | Ceriantharia |
| Subgroups | |
Tube-dwelling anemones or ceriantharians look very similar to sea anemones but belong to an entirely different subclass of anthozoans. They are solitary, living buried in soft sediments. Tube anemones live inside and can withdraw into tubes, which are composed of a fibrous material made from secreted mucus and threads of -like organelles known as ptychocysts.
Ceriantharians have a crown of tentacles that are composed of two whorls of distinctly different sized tentacles. The outer whorl consists of large tentacles that extend outwards. These tentacles taper to points and are mostly used in food capture and defence. The smaller inner tentacles are held more erect than the larger lateral tentacles and are used for food manipulation and ingestion.
Hickman; et al. (2008), Integrated Principles of Zoology (14th ed.), New York: McGraw-Hill, ISBN
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