Ten species of sea anemones (Anthozoa: Actiniaria) are documented in the Mexican Caribbean based on observations andcollections in 11 coral reef localities during 2006–2011; three of them are new records for Mexico. These species belongto families Actiniidae, Aiptasiidae, Aliciidae, Boloceroididae, Phymanthidae, and Stichodactylidae. Although these do notrepresent all species reported in the Mexican Caribbean, these are the most abundant and conspicuous. This work represents the first inventory of sea anemones of the Mexican Caribbean.
Seven sea anemone species from coral reefs in the southern Gulf of Mexico are taxonomically diagnosed and images from living specimens including external and internal features, and cnidae are provided. Furthermore, the known distribution ranges from another 10 species are extended. No species records of sea anemones have been previously published in the primary scientific literature for coral reefs in the southern Gulf of Mexico and thus, this study represents the first inventory for the local actiniarian fauna.
The shallow water sea anemonePhymanthus cruciferexhibits three distinct morphotypes, characterized by the presence or absence of protuberances on the marginal tentacles, as well as intermediate forms. The taxonomic status of the different morphotypes and the diagnostic value of protuberances on the tentacles have been debated for this species and the family Phymanthidae. We analysed the external and internal anatomy, cnidae and three mitochondrial molecular markers for representatives of each of the three morphotypes. In addition, we address the putative monophyly of the family Phymanthidae based on molecular data. With the exception of the protuberances, our morphological and molecular results show no differences among the three morphotypes; thus, we consider this feature to be intraspecific variability withinP. crucifer. Furthermore, molecular data reveal that the family Phymanthidae is not monophyletic. In addition, we discuss several diagnostic morphological features of the family Phymanthidae.
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