Sphenopus exilisis a new species of zoanthids that goes against almost everything we thought we knew about this group of reef animals. Not only isSphenopus孤独,但它也是一个自由的活着的Zoanthid,它以其居住的沙粒而建立。
Not to be confused withStenopusshrimps,Sphenopusexilisis actually not the first member of this genus as it shares the classification with three other species. What makes the discovery ofSphenopus exilisso exciting is that it’s the first of its kind in over a century withSphenopus marsupialis在18世纪被描述为19世纪的另外两个物种。
Earlier this year we were treated to some new species of azooxanthellate zoanthids which live by feeding instead of the more typical symbiotic internal algae. While the newly discoveredSphenophusare still photosynthetic, their free living and solitary nature makes them an oddball among zoanthids.
想象一下在您所看到的水族馆中,我们都喜欢的豪华和丰富多彩的Zoanthid殖民地。现在想象一下,如果某种程度上这些殖民地生活在沙子上,与任何底物无关,或者只有一个大脂肪多汁的单息 - 这些特征中的任何一个都足以吸引您的异常增长形式。
Perhaps it is precisely the free-living form that consequently makesSphenophusZoanthids孤独 - 也许他们有能力在某种程度上发芽,但没有任何依附于任何底物的行为,这些女儿的息肉只是自行漫步到生活。
在某些方面SphemopusZoanthids类似于Walking Dendro corals,Heteropsammia和Heterocyathus, sans the obligatory commensal peanut worm living inside the base. Interestingly enough, Stemophus has been kept in an aquarium before, and we’re not surprised to learn that it was by theChuraumi Okinawa Aquarium– home to many aquatic exotics.
The newly describedSphemopus exilis在日本,在15米深的封闭式粉质湾中发现。随着人们对巨人,孤独,自由的Zoanthids的意识,也许水族馆世界最终可能会进一步了解有关它们的信息,甚至可以将一些礁石放在礁石坦克中。
Sphemopus exilis was described by Takuma Fujii and James Davis Reimer in the July 2016 volume ofZooKeys.