Heteractis magnifica (Quoy & Gaimard, 1833)

Fassbender, Nico, Stefanoudis, Paris V, Filander, Zoleka Nontlantla, Gendron, Gilberte, Mah, Christopher L, Mattio, Lydiane, Mortimer, Jeanne A, Moura, Carlos J, Samaai, Toufiek, Samimi-Namin, Kaveh, Wagner, Daniel, Walton, Rowana & Woodall, Lucy C, 2021, Reef benthos of Seychelles - A field guide, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 65970-65970 : 65970

Heteractis magnifica (Quoy & Gaimard, 1833)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Taxon: scientificName: Heteractis magnifica; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Cnidaria; class: Anthozoa; order: Actiniaria; family: Stichodactylidae; genus: Heteractis; scientificNameAuthorship: Quoy & Gaimard, 1833; Location: waterBody: Indian Ocean; country: Seychelles; locality: D'Arros N 1 ; minimumDepthInMeters: 31.8 m; maximumDepthInMeters: 34.3 m; locationRemarks: First Descent : Seychelles Expedition ; Identification : identifiedBy: Nico Fassbender , Paris Stefanoudis ; dateIdentified: 2019, 2020; identificationRemarks: identified only from imagery; Event : samplingProtocol: Submersible OR Remotely Operated Vehicle OR SCUBA; Record Level: basisOfRecord: Human observation

Notes

Oval oral disc that is flat or slightly undulating and densely covered with finger-like tentacles. Tentacles are hardly tapered or blunt, sometimes with a swollen end. Oral disc white; tentacles light brown to green. Typically found growing in comparably exposed positions. They can host anemonefish and are associated with the anemonefish species Amphiprion akallopisos (pictured below), in Seychelles waters. Furthermore, Dascyllus trimaculatus and various shrimp species may live inside the anemone. Similar-looking species include Stichodactyla mertensii , with H. magnifica being much more substantial and its oral disc and tentacles of uniform colouration, with a brightly coloured column (where visible) (Fig. 15 ).

Figures

Figure 15. Heteractis magnifica. D'Arros N 1, 30 m.