Weed anemone menace in marine aquaria and its management

Abstract

Sea anemones are coming under the Phylum Cnidaria and Class Anthozoa. Like many Cnidarians, sea anemones contain specialized cells, known as cnidocytes or nematocytes, in their body column, oral disc, pharynx, tentacles and mesenterial filaments. Sea anemones of Aiptasia genus are distributed in temperate and tropical oceans attached to any hard substratum. The genus Aiptasia includes 13 species all equipped with 96 tentacles which are filled with nematocysts to sting their prey. The name Aiptasia itself means ‘beautiful’, however in marine aquarium keeping even if few Aiptasia are found in the tank it should not be taken so lightly. A hardy species it can explode in numbers within weeks. Aiptasia is a zooxanthellate anemone and survives well in the illuminated marine aquarium due to the photosynthetic activity of its algal symbiont.