ISSN: 2332-2608

Journal of Fisheries & Livestock Production
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  • Mini Review   
  • J Fisheries Livest Prod 2022, Vol 10(3): 333
  • DOI: 10.4172/2332-2608.1000333

First Record of Four Species of Sea Anemones (Cnidaria: Actiniaria) For Lebanese Coast, Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Ali Badreddine1*, Ghazi Bitar1 and Nadya Sanamyan2
1Department of Sciences, Lebanese University, Hadath, Beirut, Lebanon
2Kamchatka Branch of Pacific Geographical Institute, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia
*Corresponding Author: Ali Badreddine, Department of Sciences, Lebanese University, Hadath, Beirut, Lebanon, Email: ali.badreddine@hotmail.com

Received: 21-Feb-2022 / Manuscript No. jflp-22-55093 / Editor assigned: 28-Feb-2022 / PreQC No. jflp-22-55093 (PQ) / Reviewed: 14-Mar-2022 / QC No. jflp-22-55093 / Revised: 18-Mar-2022 / Manuscript No. jflp-22-55093 (R) / Accepted Date: 18-Mar-2022 / Published Date: 25-Mar-2022 DOI: 10.4172/2332-2608.1000333

Abstract

Four species of sea anemones of the order Actiniaria were reported for the first time along the Lebanese coast. Anthopleura ballii (Cocks, 1851), Aulactinia rubripunctata (Grube, 1840), Aulactinia verrucosa (Pennant, 1777), and Cereus pedunculatus (Pennant, 1777) were observed and photographed from the tidal pools of the vermetid reef of Saksakiyeh, south Lebanon. These species belong to three genera which have not been reported from this region before. Also, the family Sagartiidae is reported from Lebanese coast for the first time. This report discusses details of these new observations.

Keywords: Anthopleura ballii; Aulactinia rubripunctata; Aulactinia verrucosa; Cereus pedunculatus; Actiniidae; Sagartiidae; Lebanon; Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Keywords

Anthopleura ballii; Aulactinia rubripunctata; Aulactinia verrucosa; Cereus pedunculatus; Actiniidae; Sagartiidae; Lebanon; Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Introduction

Order Actiniaria Hertwig, 1882, includes about 1100 species worldwide and 51 species in the Mediterranean Sea. In the Levantine Sea, 18 species of sea anemones are known [1-4].

Along the Lebanese coast nine species belonging to five families of the order Actiniaria were reported until now: Actinia mediterranea (Schmidt, 1971), Adamsia palliata (Fabricius, 1779), Aiptasia mutabilis (Gravenhorst, 1831), Anemonia viridis (Forsskål, 1775), Bunodeopsis strumosa (Andrès, 1881), Calliactis parasitica (Couch, 1842), Condylactis aurantiaca (Delle Chiaje, 1825), Hormathia alba (Andrès, 1880) and Telmatactis cricoides (Duchassaing, 1850) [5-9]. However, Actiniaria species from the Lebanese coast remain insufficiently studied. This note reports four species of sea anemones recorded for the first time from this coast.

During many fieldworks done by one of us (A. Badreddine) along the coast of Saksakiyeh south Lebanon (33°43’9711”N; 35°27’4219”E) (Figure 1), four species of sea anemones new for this region were observed and photographed in the tidal pools of the large vermetid reef of the studied site. Many photos of each specimen were taken to confirm the identification. Date of observation and number of individuals of each species are provided in Table 1.

Species Date Number of individuals Photo
Anthopleura ballii (Cocks, 1851) 23-09-2020 One Yes
25-12-2020 Around ten Yes
05-01-2021 Around ten Yes
24-04-2021 Around ten Yes
Aulactinia rubripunctata (Grube, 1840) 23-09-2020 One Yes
25-12-2020 Two Yes
05-01-2021 Two Yes
24-04-2021 Two Yes
Aulactinia verrucosa (Pennant, 1777) 05-01-2021 One Yes
24-04-2021 Two Yes
Cereus pedunculatus (Pennant, 1777) 23-09-2020 One Yes
05-01-2021 One Yes

Table 1: Records of the four sea anemones along the vermetid reef of Saksakiyeh.

fisheries-livestock-production-Location

Figure 1: Location where the four sea anemones species were observed and photographed in Saksakiyeh, south Lebanon.

As result, four species of sea anemones were recorded for the first time along the Lebanese coast: the red speckled anemone Anthopleura ballii (Cocks, 1851), the gem anemone Aulactinia rubripunctata (Grube, 1840), Aulactinia verrucosa (Pennant, 1777), and the daisy anemone Cereus pedunculatus (Pennant, 1777). These species belong to three genera which have not been reported from this region before. Also, the family Sagartiidae is reported from Lebanese coast for the first time.

Systematics

Characters of the species

Anthopleura ballii is distinguished by its yellowish tentacles arranged into 5 circles with a brilliant green sheen. Its column covered by small warts arranged into longitudinal rows (Figure 2).

fisheries-livestock-production-specimens

Figure 2: Four specimens of Anthopleura ballii Phylum Cnidaria Hatschek, 1888 Order Actiniaria Hertwig, 1882 Family Actiniidae Rafinesque, 1815 Genus Anthopleura Michelotti, 1860 Anthopleura ballii (Cocks, 1851).

Remarks

Anthopleura ballii (Cocks, 1851) is an Atlantic-Mediterranean species, known in the Mediterranean Sea from its Western (including the Adriatic Sea) and Levantine basin [1, 3, 10-12].

Characters of the species

Aulactinia rubripunctata is characterized by its red tentacles, greenish oral disc, and distinguished yellowish column accompanied by a red spot on the verrucae (Figure 3).

fisheries-livestock-production-rubripunctata

Figure 3: Specimens of Aulactinia rubripunctata Genus Aulactinia Agassiz in Verrill, 1864 Aulactinia rubripunctata (Grube, 1840).

Remarks

Aulactinia rubripunctata (Grube, 1840) is an Atlantic- Mediterranean species, known in the Mediterranean Sea from its western (including the Adriatic Sea) and eastern (including the Aegean and Levantine Seas) [1, 3, 10, 11].

Characters of the species

Aulactinia verrucosa is easily distinguished by pink markings on the tentacles, greenish-olive oral disc, two small pink lines marking siphonoglyphes on the corners of the mouth (Figure 4), and soft pink column (personal observation of A. Badreddine).

fisheries-livestock-production-Aulactinia

Figure 4: Two specimens of Aulactinia verrucosa Aulactinia verrucosa (Pennant, 1777).

Remarks

Aulactinia verrucosa (Pennant, 1777) is an Atlantic-Mediterranean species. In the Mediterranean Sea, A. verrucosa was reported from its Western (including the Adriatic Sea) and Eastern (including the Aegean Sea) basins [1, 3, 10]. In the Levantine basin, A. verrucosa was reported from the Southern Levantine coast [13] and the Turkish waters [11].

Characters of the species

Cereus pedunculatus is easily distinguished by its numerous tentacles arranged in the form of a crown (Figure 5).

fisheries-livestock-production-pedunculatus

Figure 5: Specimen of Cereus pedunculatus Family Sagartiidae Gosse, 1858 Genus Cereus Ilmoni, 1830 Cereus pedunculatus (Pennant, 1777).

Remarks

Cereus pedunculatus (Pennant, 1777) is an Atlantic-Mediterranean species, well reported from different localities of the Mediterranean Sea, its western (including the Adriatic Sea), central and eastern (including the Aegean, Black Seas and Levantine basins) parts [1, 3, 10, 11].

Four other species of sea anemones are known to occur along the Lebanese coast in the tidal pools of the vermetid reefs and sometime in the first-meter depth: Actinia mediterranea, Aiptasia mutabilis, Anemonia viridis and Condylactis aurantiaca (Figure 6).

fisheries-livestock-production-anemones

Figure 6: Sea anemones from the tidal pools of the vermetid reefs along the Lebanese coast A. Actinia mediterranea, B. Aiptasia mutabilis, C. Anemonia viridis, and D. Condylactis aurantiaca.

Conclusion

These new records of sea anemone species along the Lebanese coast complement the data from the Levantine Sea [1, 3, 11, 13]. Indeed, the records of this sea anemone species in the tidal pool of a vermetid reef confirm the importance of this biogenic formation, as ecosystems engineering regrouping a diverse fauna and flora, along the Lebanese coast [14]. It is therefore, of higher importance to protect such ecosystems and continue to investigate the fauna and flora associated with the vermetid reefs along the Lebanese coast. Finally, further research on sea anemone diversity along the Levantine coast, including the Lebanese coast, is required to monitor the existing species status and investigate the presence of new records.

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Citation: Badreddine A, Bitar G, Sanamyan N (2022) First Record of Four Species of Sea Anemones (Cnidaria: Actiniaria) For Lebanese Coast, Eastern Mediterranean Sea. J Fisheries Livest Prod 10: 333. DOI: 10.4172/2332-2608.1000333

Copyright: © 2022 Badreddine A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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