Diet

• Exaiptasia diaphana is a small carnivorous sea anemone that captures zooplankton, marine larvae and small benthic animals with its stinging tentacles.

• It also receives nutrients from photosynthetic dinoflagellates living symbiotically within its tissues.

• This combination of predation and photosynthetic nutrition allows it to thrive in shallow, well-lit environments.

Range

• Exaiptasia diaphana has a very broad, largely circumtropical distribution, with records from the Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, eastern and western Pacific, Indian Ocean and Mediterranean region.

• In the eastern Pacific it has been recorded from southern California southward along the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America, including Costa Rica, as well as the Galápagos Islands.

• It occurs in the Pacific coastal region of Mexico, including the broader Zihua region.

Habitat

• It is primarily a shallow-water species associated with hard substrates, including rocks, coral rubble, mangrove roots and artificial structures.

• It generally favours calm or moderately sheltered waters and is commonly found from the intertidal zone to approximately 5 m, although it has been recorded considerably deeper.

• It can colonize marinas, harbour structures, lagoons and other disturbed environments, where it may form dense aggregations.

• Its association with photosynthetic symbionts means that shallow, illuminated habitats are particularly suitable.

Description

• Exaiptasia diaphana is a small, slender sea anemone with a translucent brownish, yellowish-brown, greyish or whitish column.

• The column is smooth, elongated and highly contractile, reaching approximately 40–50 mm in height under favourable conditions.

• The oral disc is relatively small and bears numerous slender, pointed tentacles, with commonly 80–96 and as many as 160 tentacles reported.

• The tentacles are translucent and may have pale or whitish bases; they are often arranged in several concentric rows and have a characteristic irregular or slightly zigzag appearance.

• Two rows of cinclides occur on the column, through which defensive acontia containing numerous nematocysts can be projected when the animal is disturbed.

• Individuals can reproduce asexually by pedal laceration, allowing small pieces of the pedal disc to develop into genetically identical individuals and enabling dense local aggregations to form.