Science Centres: Aquatic Biodiversity and Biosecurity

The as yet unclassified tube anemone, discovered in shallow water off Wellington’s south coast, within the proposed Kupe-Kevin Smith Marine Reserve. (Photo: Malcolm Francis, NIWA)

A small sand-dwelling tube anemone discovered during Wellington’s Marine Bioblitz could be new to science. The anemone was discovered by Dr Malcolm Francis, NIWA fisheries scientist and expert underwater photographer, during a Bioblitz night dive in Island Bay.

Dr Francis spotted several of the 5 cm-long pale, sand-coloured creatures, which have delicate spots on their 32 tentacles, as they emerged from their sand burrows just off the beach. “I wanted to take a look over the sand, because we often neglect sand as a habitat,” he says. “We were swimming around with torches, when we saw the anemones with their tentacles spread in a circle to trap any small animals swimming by.” He immediately took photos of the tiny creature.

Subsequent examination of the photos revealed that the organism is a tube anemone, or ‘cerianthid’. The only other type of cerianthid known in New Zealand is much bigger, and found only in Fiordland.

The next quest is to capture some live samples, which will be kept in an aquarium to await formal identification by a Russian expert due in New Zealand in November. If the cerianthid is not a new species, it will still most likely be catalogued as a ‘new record’ for New Zealand.