Species Calliactis polypus (Forsskål, 1775)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Priapus polypus Forsskål, P. 1775. Descriptiones Animalium Avium, Amphibiorum, Piscium, Insectorum, Vermium; quæ in Itinere Orientali observavit Petrus Forskål. Post Mortem Auctoris edidit Carsten Niebuhr. Adjuncta est Materia Medica Kakirina atque Tabula Maris Rubri Geographica. Hauniæ : Mölleri 1-19, i-xxxiv, 164 pp., 1 map. [102].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) Red Sea, Al Qunfidhah [Ghomfodam] [19°07'N, 41°04'E].
• Actinia decorata Couthouy in Dana, J.D. 1846. Zoophytes. United States Exploring Expedition. During the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. Under the command of Charles Wilkes, U.S.N. Philadelphia : Lea & Blanchard Vol. 7 740 pp. [139-140].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) French Polynesia, Honden Island, Puka Puka Atoll, lagoon, 0 m [14°49'S, 138°49'W].
• Adamsia miriam Haddon, A.C. & Shackleton, A.M. 1893. Description of some new species of Actiniaria from Torres Straits. Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society 8(1): 116–131 [117, 130-131].

  Type data:

   Holotype QLD, Torres Strait, Murray Islands, Mer [Maer] Island, 0 m [9°55'S, 144°04'E].
• Calliactis armillatas Verrill, A.E. 1928. Hawaiian shallow water Anthozoa. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 49: 3-30 [20-21].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) BPBM D114, Hawaiian Islands, Laysan Island, Tanger, 0 m [25°46’N, 171°44’W]; BPBM D295, Hawaiian Islands, Laysan Island, Tanger, 0 m [25°46’N, 171°44’W]; BPBM D299, Hawaiian Islands, Laysan Island, Tanger, 0 m [25°46’N, 171°44’W].

 

Generic Combinations

• Calliactis polypus (Forsskål, 1775). —
  Klunzinger, C.B. 1877. Die Korallthiere des rothen Meeres Erster Theil: Die Alcyonarien und Malacodermen. Berlin : Verlag der Gutmann'schen Buchhandlung 98 pp. [76] (Fautin, D.G. Hexacorallians of the World. 2011. http://geoportal.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/anemone2/index.cfm)
• Cribrina polypus (Forsskål, 1775). —
  Ehrenberg, G.G. 1834. Beitrage zur physiologischen Kenntniss der Corallenthiere im Allgemeinen und besanders des Rothen Meeres nebst, einem Versuche zur physiologischen Systematik derselben. Abhandlungen der Königlich-Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Berlin 1832(1): 225–380 [264-265] (Fautin, D.G. Hexacorallians of the World. 2011. http://geoportal.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/anemone2/index.cfm)

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Widespread Indo-Pacific: Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean; Atlantic Ocean

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IMCRA

Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Ecological Descriptors

Marine (host(s): [PAGURIDAE] Hermit crab).

Extra Ecological Information

Attached to shell of hermit crab; may be more than one sea anemone per shell

 

Diagnosis

Pedal disc wide, often embracing shells inhabited by pagurid hermit crabs. Pedal disc follows contour of shell to 50 mm diameter. Column 7-14 mm long, maroon, divided into very short smooth scapulus and thicker-walled scapus; small tubercles near distal end; so thin near limbus that mesenterial insertions visible. Perforate cinclides on prominent white tubercles arranged in a single row above base. Acontia pink, orange, or salmon colour. Thin cuticle present, especially near base. Tentacles numerous, smooth, conical, inner longer than outer; occupy marginal third of oral disc, hexamerously arranged. Oral disc flat, circular, diameter 7-20 mm; central mouth with two prominent siphonoglyphs. Sphincter mostly reticular, transversely striated especially in upper part, alveolar in its most proximal part, diminishing downwards, its proximal end rather close to the endoderm, not truncate. Mesenteries hexamerously arranged, always more at oral disc margin rather than pedal disc.

 

General References

Carlgren, O. 1938. South African Actiniaria and Zoantharia. Kungliga Svenska Ventenskapsakademiens Handlingar 17: 1-148

Carlgren, O. 1950. Actiniaria and Corallimorpharia. Scientific Reports of the Great Barrier Reef Expedition 1928-1929 5(7): 427-457

Cutress, C.E. 1977. Corallimorpharia, Actiniaria, Ceriantharia. pp. 130-147 in Devaney, D.M. & Eldredge, L.G. (Eds). Reef and Shore Fauna of Hawaii. Honolulu : Bishop Museum Press.

den Hartog, J.C. 1997. The sea anemone fauna of Indonesian coral reefs. pp. 351-370 in Tomascik, T., Mah, A.J., Nontji, A. & Moosa, M.K. (Eds). The Ecology of the Indonesian Seas, Part 1. Singapore : Periplus Editions Vol. 7.

England, K.W. 1971. Actiniaria from Mururoa Atoll Tuamotu, Polynesia (Hormathiidae; Calliactis polypus Sagartiidae: Verrillactis n. gen. paguri). Cahiers du Pacifique 15: 23-40

Fautin, D.G. 2011. Hexacorallians of the World. http://geoportal.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/anemone2/index.cfm

Fautin, D.G., Crowther, A.L. & Wallace, C.C. 2008. Sea anemones (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Actiniaria) of Moreton Bay. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 54(1): 35-64

Neave, S.A. 1939. Nomenclator Zoologicus: A list of the names of genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus 1758 to the end of 1935. London : Zoological Society of London Vol. II 1025 pp.

Pei, Z. 1996. Three new species of the genus Calliactis. Studia Marina Sinica 37: 177-187

Reimer, A.A. 1973. Feeding behavior in the sea anemone Calliactis polypus (Forskål, 1775). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 44A: 1289-1301

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
20-May-2023	HEXACORALLIA Haeckel, 1896	20-May-2023	MODIFIED
05-Aug-2022	CNIDARIA	26-Apr-2023	MODIFIED
05-Aug-2022	ANTHOZOA	20-May-2023	MODIFIED
05-Aug-2022	NYNANTHEAE Carlgren, 1899	13-Aug-2013	MOVED	Dr Bronwen Scott
05-Aug-2022		20-May-2023	MODIFIED
05-Aug-2022		09-Nov-2010	MOVED
05-Aug-2022		09-Nov-2010	MOVED
05-Aug-2022		28-Jul-2010	MODIFIED
		13-Jul-2010	MODIFIED