Anthopleura inconspicua (Sea Anemones of New Zealand)

Anthopleura inconspicua

Description ¹

Uncommon, medium sized anemone.
Habitat
On stones our underside of rocks, or under sand with tentacles protruding. Another source just say in mudflats.

Pedal disc
Adherent, somewhat wider than the column

Column
OIive-brown to yellowish white but lighter towards the base, and a collar at the top. Covered with columns of brown (often pale centred) non-prominent verrucae warts which dwindle towards the base of the column. Ringed at the top of each column of warts by marginal spherules.

Oral disc
A white "mouth" often puckered outwards on an olive-brown disc. Up to about 15 to 20mm diameter. Dark lines radially from tentacles to centre.

Tentacles
48 long, olive brown, tentacles in 3 whorls (Batham says 4 whorls, about 120 in total). They are about as long as the disc is wide (Up to about 15 to 20mm). "Margined with white", they are often marked with whites spots on the inner surface.

Distribution
Endemic, throughout NZ.

Have symbiotic Zooxanthellae.

Description extracted from Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1868-1961, Volume 11, 1878, p308
Art. XXXII.—The Sea Anemones of New Zealand.
By Prof. Hutton. :

Genus: Column with suckers, but no loop-holes; margin of disc beaded.

Column cylindrical, as long or longer than broad, with vertical rows of suckers on warts. Olive brown above, passing into yellowish white below; the warts brown, often pale-centred. Disc round, concave, olive brown, sometimes marked with grey, marginal row of beads white.

Tentacles moderate, nearly or quite equal to the diameter of the disc, quite retractile; olive brown margined with white, and often white-spotted.

Diameter about 8mm.

In rock pools near Dunedin, abundant.

In some the warts are obsolete near the base, owing to the animal having lived in a narrow crack in the rocks. There is also a variety in which the tentacles are purplish grey, and the disc even is sometimes the same colour.

Edited description extracted from Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand , Volume 85, 1957-58, p647

By E J. Batham :

This species was named, by Hutton, Phymactis inconspicua. The vertical arrangement of its verrucæ, however, gives it a place in the genus Bunodes.

Basal Disc.—Adherent, rather wider than the column.

Column.—Cylindrical, slightly widening towards the base. Verrucæ in vertical rows, long and short rows alternating. Towards the lower end of the column they become less numerous and smaller, at last becoming mere marks. The colour of the column is whitish below, olive-brown above. The column closely resembles that of Anthopleura aureoradiata. Under the tentacles is a ring of white tubercles or “marginal beads,” each one being placed at the top of a vertical row of warts.

Tentacles.—These are placed in four whorls, and are about 120 in number. The largest is equal in length to the diameter of the disc. They are conical, and taper to a fine point. In colour they are olive-brown, with from 2 to 6 white spots on the inner side. They are completely retractile, and very sensitive. The lumen is filled with zooxanthellæ.

Oral Disc.—Flat; peristome raised. Colour olive-brown. "Mouth" white, often puckered outwards.

Dimensions.—My largest specimens were 15mm. high, and about the same in diameter, but I am told they grow much larger.

Distribution.—Of the genus—As above. Of the species—Dunedin, Wellington.

Tuatara: Volume 6, Issue 2, December 1956
Seafloor Animals from the Region of Portobello Marine Biological Station, Otago Harbour
By Patricia M. Ralph and J. C. Yaldwyn

Similar but larger than A. aureoradiata, up to 5cm. high, with a white column, less clearly defined warts and the tentacles olive brown barried with white on the mouth aspect. The body colours of this latter species are, however, very variable and both disc and column may be pink or orange.

Edited description extracted from The Actiniaria of New Zealand, Part I, page 105
By G Parry

Base - firmly adherent, and perhaps slightly wider than the column. Usually attached to stones, and the undersides of boulders.

Column - slightly widens towards the pedal disc and the oral disc. There are verrucae in precise longitudinal rows, disappearing in the lower half of the column. They are not so prominent, even in the upper part, as in A.aureoradiata. They are tipped with white, but do not appear to be adhesive, since specimens are seldom found with any detritus attached to them. The column is olive brown above, fading to cream at the base. There is a definite collar and fosse at the top of the column, with a ring of white marginal spherules.

Oral disc - usually rather concave, with the peristome flat, at the bottom. Often in normal conditions it is not fully expanded, but sunken, with the tentacles held over the disc. Colour of the disc is olive brown, with darker lines along the mesenteries. The peristome is white and is broken by two bands of brown running from the bases of the directive tentacles, four thinner bands running from the other primary tentacles. This colour variety described is the commonest found, although I have seen others with a combination of pale yellow and brown, or orange and brown.

Tentacles - 48, in 3 cycles, 12, 12, 24, in the largest specimens I have seen. Stuckey records u p to 120 tentacles in smaller specimens. They are rather long and fine, about the same length as the diameter of the disc. They are olive brown, barred with white on the oral aspect. The 12 tentacles of the first cycle are a darker brown than the others. They are very sensitive and are quickly withdrawn into the coelenteron, on the slightest stimulation.

Size - Generally larger than A. aureoradiata. Large specimens have height of column 4-5 cm., diameter of disc 1.5-2 cm., length of tentacles is 1.5-2 cm., width of base, up to 3 cm.

This anemone is not particularly common, although if one knows its usual environment well, it is usually possible to find one or two. It prefers a sheltered area, where there is a coarse muddy bottom, with small rocks. Usually it is attached to that part of a rock which is buried in the mud, and projects upwards, so that the crown is a centimetre or so above the mud surface. It also prefers to be out of a bright light. Stuckey records the species from Dunedin and Wellington. I have found it at Piha (Auckland), Portobello (Port Chalmers), Menzies Bay and Taylor's Mistake (Banks Peninsula), and Goose Bay (Kaikoura).