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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: p.c.watts@liverpool.ac.uk
John P. Thorpe
Affiliation:
Port Erin Marine Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Port Erin, Isle of Man, IM9 6JA. E-mail: p.c.watts@liverpool.ac.uk
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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

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