Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T11:19:41.770Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Phenotypic Identification of three Genetically Differentiated Morphs of the Intertidal Beadlet Anemone Actinia Equina (Anthozoa: Cnidaria)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Phillip C. Watts  and
John P. Thorpe
Phillip C. Watts
Affiliation:
Port Erin Marine Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Port Erin, Isle of Man, IM9 6JA. E-mail: [email protected]
John P. Thorpe
Affiliation:
Port Erin Marine Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Port Erin, Isle of Man, IM9 6JA. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The commonest column colours of Actinia equina (Anthozoa: Cnidaria) are various shades of dark red or brown. However, these colour forms conceal genetically differentiated upper (U), mid (M) and lower (L) shore morphs. It is now evident that these morphs have differing ecological requirements and probably constitute different biological species. Identification by examination of diagnostic gene loci is not practicable for most ecological purposes. The L morphs can be readily identified, but there is no known morphological character to distinguish reliably between the U and M morphs. A study of acrorhagial characters indicates that, whilst neither the type, number, colour nor size of the acrorhagi themselves were diagnostic, there is a clear difference between the U and M morphs in the size of the holotrichs (a category of nematocyst). The holotrichs were significantly smaller in the U morph than in either of the other two morphs. In the M and L morphs the holotrichs did not differ significantly in size.

Type
Short Communications
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 78 , Issue 4 , November 1998 , pp. 1365 - 1368
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allcock, A.L., Watts, P.C. & Thorpe, J.P., 1998. Divergence of nematocysts in two colour morphs of the intertidal beadlet anemone Actinia equina. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 78, 821–828.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderluh, G., Pungercar, J., Strukelj, B., Macek, P. & Gubensek, F., 1996. Cloning, sequencing, and expression of equinatoxin. 2. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 220, 437–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donoghue, A.M., Quicke, D.L.J. & Brace, R.C., 1985. Biochemical-genetic and acrorhagial characteristics of pedal disc colour phenotypes of Actinia equina. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 65, 21–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutton, D.M.C. & Smith, V.J., 1996. Antibacterial properties of isolated amoebocytes from the sea anemone Actinia equina. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, 191, 441–451.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knowlton, N., 1993. Sibling species in the sea. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 24, 189–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynch, S.M., 1996. Empirical studies of allozyme based ecological genetics of the genus Actinia (Anthozoa: Actiniaria) and other marine invertebrates. PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.Google Scholar
Perrin, M.C., 1993. Aspects of the ecology and genetics of Actinia colour morphs. PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.Google Scholar
Quicke, D.L.J. & Brace, R.C., 1984. Evidence for the existence of a third ecologically distinct morph of the anemone Actinia eauina. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 64, 531–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quicke, D.L.J., Donoghue, A.M. & Brace, R.C., 1983. Biochemical genetic and ecological evidence that red/brown individuals of the anemone Actinia eauina comprise two morphs in Britain. Marine Biology, 77, 29–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quicke, D.L.J., Donoghue, A.M., Keeling, T.F. & Brace, R.C., 1985. Littoral distributions and evidence for differential post-settlement selection on the morphs of Actinia eauina. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 65, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shick, J.M., 1991. A functional biology of sea anemones. London: Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sokal, R.R. & Rohlf, J.F., 1995. Biometry. The principles and practice of statistics in biological research, 3rd ed. New York: W.H. Freeman & Co.Google Scholar
Zar, J.H., 1984. Biostatistical analysis, 2nd ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.Google Scholar