Comparison of cnidae sizes between the two morphotypes of the giant Caribbean sea anemone Condylactis gigantea (Actiniaria: Actiniidae)

GONZÁLEZ-MUÑOZ, R. E.; CARLOS HERNÁNDEZ-ORTIZ; GARESE, AGUSTÍN; NUNO SIMÕES; ACUÑA, F. H.

REVISTA DE BIOLOGíA TROPICAL

REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA TROPICAL

Lugar: Turrialba; Año: 2018 vol. 66 p. 1055 - 1064

0034-7744

Comparison of cnidae sizesbetween the two morphotypes of the giant Caribbean sea anemone Condylactisgigantea (Actiniaria: Actiniidae). The sea anemone Condylactisgigantea is an ecologically important member of the benthic community incoral reefs of the tropical Atlantic, and displays two morphotypes with respectto the color in their tentacular tips: the green tip morphotype and the pink/purpletip morphotype. Although some molecular and ecological distinctions have beenfound between these morphotypes, no other morphological differences have beenreported, and currently both are still considered a single taxonomic species. Inthe present study, we perform an exploration on the variability in the size ofcnidae between these two morphotypes and statistically compared 10 categoriesof cnidae from specimens hosted in the Cnidarian Collection of Gulf of Mexicoand Mexican Caribbean, of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, which werepreviously collected in several coral reefs localities of the Yucatan Peninsula.Results reveal no significant variation in cnidae size between the twomorphotypes, but significant variations were found within each morphotype. Inaddition, we update the composition of the cnidom of C. gigantea, and the utility of the size of cnidae to distinguishbetween morphotypes or closely related species is discussed.