Cribrinopsis fernaldi Siebert and Spaulding, 1976

Common name(s): Crimson anemone, Snakelock anemone, Fernald brooding anemone

Synonyms:
Phylum Cnidaria
Class Anthozoa
Suborder Nynantheae
Family Actiniidae
Cribrinopsis fernaldi from Burrows Channel, Wa. Oral disk diameter of this individual is 4.5 cm.
(Photo by: Dave Cowles, July 2007)
Description:  This anemone has no acontia but it does have a circle of whitish knobs (sometimes called "contact tentacles") around the margin of the oral disk (photo).  It has white tubercles all up and down its column wall (photo).  The overall color is white, yellow, or pink and there are narrow zigzag lines, often red, across the tentacles.  The tentacles are long and may droop down.  Red lines radiate outward on the oral disk (photo).  Up to 20 cm tall.

How to Distinguish from Similar Species:Urticina crassicornis has similar colors but the stripes on the tentacles are broad and it does not have the "contact tentacles" (which are usually hard to find). Epiactis ritteri has radiating lines on the oral disk also but the lines are white and there are no tubercles on the column.

Geographical Range:  Aleutian Islands to Puget Sound

Depth Range:  Subtidal to at least 300 m.

Habitat:

Biology/Natural History:  This anemone broods its young internally.  A common symbiont is the candy-striped shrimp Lebbeus grandimanus (photo).  Heptacarpus kincaidi is another common shrimp symbiont (photo).  The heart crab Phyllolithodes papillosus often shelters under the anemone when molting (photo).  We have also observed the scaled crab Placetron wosnessenskii sheltering under the anemones (photo).



 

References:

Dichotomous Keys:
  Kozloff 1987, 1996

General References:
  Harbo, 1999

Scientific Articles:

Web sites:


General Notes and Observations:  Locations, abundances, unusual behaviors:

This anemone is common on the deep slope on the outer side of Northwest Island.



A view of the oral disk.



In this underwater photo by Kirt Onthank, Taken at Northwest Island, the whitish knobs (sometimes called "contact tentacles") used for fighting other anemones can be seen in a ring around the outside of the normal tentacles.
Most often these knobs are hard to see.  This animal was in a group of several anemones and may have them exposed because of recent agonistic behavior.
Do not confuse the white tubercles easily visible on the side of the column with the contact tentacles.
The shrimp on the anemone's column is the candy-striped shrimp Lebbeus grandimanus, which is a common symbiont on this and several other anemones.
The shrimp has a parasite in its left gill chamber, probably a bopyrid isopod.

Lebbeus shrimp on Cribrinopsis

Here is another Lebbeus grandimanus shrimp on another Cribrinopsis fernaldi.  Photo by Kirt Onthank summer 2007


Heptacarpus shrimp symbiont
Heptacarpus kinkaidi is another common symbiont.  Photo by Kirt Onthank, summer 2007

Phyllolithodes crab symbiont
Phyllolithodes papillosus crabs often take shelter under the anemone.  Photo by Kirt Onthank summer 2007


Placetron crab symbiont

Placetron wosnessenskii crabs also seem to frequently shelter under the anemones.  Photo by Kirt Onthank, summer 2007


Underwater photo of a white individual by Kirt Onthank, July 2007
 



Authors and Editors of Page:
Dave Cowles (2007):  Created original page
CSS coding for page developed by Jonathan Cowles (2007)