Ecological notes onActinostella flosculifera(Le Sueur, 1817) (Cnidaria: Actiniaria: Actiniidae) in the South-western Atlantic, Brazil

Abstract

Sea anemones have developed various strategies for interspecific interaction with other organisms and their own ability to obtain food, due to their coevolutionary history, ranging from mutualistic (e.g. clownfish, crustaceans, etc.) and symbiotic associations (zooxanthellae or zoochlorellae) to depredation (e.g. sea slug). This study aims to record some observations on feeding habits and interspecific interactions of Actinostella flosculifera (Le Sueur, 1817) in the locality of Pedra da Sereia in Vila Velha, Espírito Santo, Brazil, and to describe the hunting strategy of the sea slug Spurilla braziliana MacFarland, 1909 and the escape strategy of A. flosculifera. We found that the habitat of A. flosculifera is characterized by shallow pools ~10 cm deep at low tides, and this functions as a trap for many organisms and some biowaste (e.g. bones or fish drifting in from nearby populations) that fall into the oral disc. This is the first report of S. braziliana predating on A. flosculifera. We also report interspecific relationships between A. flosculifera with four species of crustaceans: Omalacantha bicornuta (Latreille, 1825), Menippe cf. nodifrons Stimpson, 1859, Alpheus cf. angulosus McClure, 2002, and Alpheus cf. carlae Anker, 2012.

Revision of the Genus Actinostella (Cnidaria: Actiniaria: Actinioidea) from Tropical and Subtropical Western Atlantic and Eastern Pacific: Redescriptions and Synonymies

“…Geographic and Bathymetric Distribution and Natural History: Actinostella flosculifera is distributed along the entire Caribbean Sea (from Bermuda to the Lesser Antilles), Gulf of Mexico, Colombia, and the South Atlantic off the coast of Brazil (see Schlenz and Belém, 1992;González-Muñoz et al, 2012Durán-Fuentes et al, 2022;2023). The species has been also reported in the east Atlantic in the Cameroon, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Island, and Senegal (Ocaña and den Hartog, 2002;Ocaña et al, 2015) and the Gulf of Guinea (Wirtz, 2003), but these records need to be checked to confirm species-level identification.…”

“…Species of Actinostella are common and conspicuous in intertidal to shallow waters in the tropical and subtropical Pacific and Atlantic basins as well as the Red Sea. They are usually found in crevices or burrows in the sand, sometimes attached to rocks, often with debris attached to the column (Corrêa, 1964;Schlenz and Belém, 1992;den Hartog, 2002, Ocaña et al, 2007;Häussermann, 2003;González-Muñoz et al, 2012;Barragán et al, 2019;Durán-Fuentes et al, 2023). Accurate identification of species is critical to draw valid conclusions about the conservation and ecology of marine organisms, especially within the dynamic and climate-sensitive intertidal environment (Mace, 2004).…”