Zoanthus Lamarck 1801

Zoanthus is ongewerwelde diertjies wat op rotse in die tussengetysone in die see woon. Soos seeanemone, anker hulle hulself aan die rotse en die mond en tentakels wys boontoe. Hulle woon in groot kolonies saam en lyk soos glibberige matte op die rotse. Tydens hoogwater maak die diertjies oop om plankton uit die water te filtreer en hulle is ook afhanklik vir voeding van die mikroskopiese alge wat in weefsels woon.

This group includes all Zoanthus spp. specimens that could not be identified to species level (n=10). Almost all of these specimens are ‘liberae’ or ‘intermediae’, with polyps rising out from the coenenchyme (see Pax 1910) (Figure 2C). One specimen, RMNH Coel 40560, is more ‘immersae’ with polyps only slightly protruding from the coenenchyme (average height 2.25 mm, width 2.0 mm, n=10). Overall, polyps for all specimens fit within the range of several described species, with an average for all specimens of a height of 6.7 mm (range 2–17 mm), and width of 3.3 mm (range 1.5–6 mm) (n=10 specimens). Thus, given the high variation within Zoanthus species, particularly polyp height based on microenvironment (Ong et al. 2013), and the lack of other diagnostic characteristics, for now these species cannot be identified to species level. Based solely on sizes, two specimens, RMNH Coel 40542 and 40565, have much larger polyps compared to the other specimens (height 10.3 mm, width 4.3 mm; height 10.8 mm, width 4.4 mm), but whether these are a separate species from other specimens or the size difference is due to fixation method in formalin is unknown.

Regions recorded in this study (Figure 3). Eastern Bali (5), Komodo (8), Spermonde Archipelago (9), Taka Bone Rate (11), Maisel Is. (13), Lembeh Strait. (17). Previous records. NA.