Subclass CERIANTHARIA Perrier, 1893

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• Ceriantharia Perrier, 1893.

Introduction

Often found on sandy bottoms near reefs, 'tube anemones' are solitary hexacorals with no skeleton which have a leathery tube of secreted material coated with sand grains and shell fragments. Tube anemones lack the pedal disc that other sea anemones possess and are characterised by numerous unpaired septa that divide the body cavity. When disturbed, cerianthids retreat into their tube by the contraction of muscles. To reinflate once contracted within the tube, cerianthids possess a single siphonoglyph. Once inflated, cerianthids are capable of considerable extension of their bodies to enable them to search for food on the seafloor without leaving the tube. They also have a double row of long tentacles at the margin of an oral disc to aid in filter feeding. Consulting specialist for this section was Dr. Daphne Fautin.

The current placement of Ceriantharia follows the work of Stampar et al. (2014) in removing the group from the Hexacorallia and placing it as a subclass of Anthozoa. This classification was further supported by the results of Kayal et al. (2018) who also found Ceriantharia to be the sister group of the Hexacorallia. See also Molodtsova (2022).

General References

Fautin, D.G. 2011. Hexacorallians of the World. http://geoportal.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/anemone2/index.cfm (no longer accessible, partly incorporated into World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS))

Kayal, E., Bentlage, B., Pankey, M.S., Ohdera, A.H., Medina, M., Plachetzki, D.C., Collins, A.G. & Ryan, J.F. 2018. Phylogenomics provides a robust topology of the major cnidarian lineages and insights on the origins of key organismal traits. BMC Evolutionary Biology 18(68): 1-18 [10]

Molodtsova, T. 2022. World List of Ceriantharia. Ceriantharia. Accessed through: at:. World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1361 [accessed 04/08/2022]

Stampar, S.N., Maronna, M.M., Kitahara, M.V., Reimer, J.D. & Morandini, A.C. 2014. Fast-Evolving Mitochondrial DNA in Ceriantharia: A Reflection of Hexacorallia Paraphyly? PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science) 9(1): e86612 [8]

History of changes