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A different manner to share a house: is a colonial species possible in Ceriantharia (Cnidaria; Anthozoa)?

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Abstract

Ceriantharians or tube-dwelling sea anemones are known for synthesizing soft and flexible tubes made of mucus, cnidae filaments (ptychocysts), and sediments found on the soft bottom. These tubes are used to house and protect them from danger, although many species of marine invertebrates use ceriantharian tubes as alternative substrates. Little is known about the organizational structure of ceriantharians in their own tubes. Although ceriantharians are always considered solitary animals, this study presents the first record of a ceriantharian colony of Botrucnidifer norvegicus Carlgren, 1912. Future studies regarding the population structure in ceriantharian aggregations may help to clarify this unusual habit for Ceriantharia.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr. Torkild Bakken for providing access to the material of NTNU-VM. We also would like to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions to improve the manuscript.

Financial support

This study was supported by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) [Proc. number 2015/24408-4; 2016/00689-7; 2016/04962-0; 2017/07870-1].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Evolução e Diversidade Aquática – LEDA, UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista, FCL/Assis, Assis, Brazil

    Hellen Ceriello, Celine S. S. Lopes & Sérgio N. Stampar

  2. Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Zoologia, UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu, Brazil

    Hellen Ceriello, Celine S. S. Lopes & Sérgio N. Stampar

  3. Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC, São Bernardo, Brazil

    Gustavo Muniz Dias

Authors
  1. Hellen Ceriello
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  2. Celine S. S. Lopes
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  3. Gustavo Muniz Dias
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  4. Sérgio N. Stampar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sérgio N. Stampar.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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No animal testing was performed during this study.

Sampling and field studies

All necessary permits for sampling and observational field studies have been obtained from the competent authorities by the authors.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Communicated by B. W. Hoeksema

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Ceriello, H., Lopes, C.S.S., Dias, G.M. et al. A different manner to share a house: is a colonial species possible in Ceriantharia (Cnidaria; Anthozoa)?. Mar Biodiv 49, 2017–2020 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-019-00942-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-019-00942-2

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