Sea Shore Antics

[Karen]

saw it on the seashoreantics website - very original bit of info. How often do they do this

in a lifetime? Any knowledge on this would be great. The anemones were the Anemonia viridis

can be seen here:


http://www.seashoreantics.com/newspaper01.html

Karen

[Dave]

Would like to know this as well, thanks.
Dave

[administration]

Good thinking Karen.... Cant seem to get to the bottom of this one. After seeing them reproduce by the Longitudinal Fission process, it was

wondered which was the oldest and (assuming both are the same age) the reproduction process of:

adult gives birth
adult dies
young grows to

adult
adult gives birth
etc etc

....does not fit.

If both are the same age..... no matter how many times they split into two, if they are going to die

through old age, they will all die at the same time (surely?)

So have they the secret of eternal life!!?? Well possibly not, but cant seem to find a definitive answer

on:

How long they live for?
How many times they can/will reproduce in their lifetime?

Readers mission is to crack this mystery.

Stephen

[Melanie]

I remember our conversation about 'old age' and reasons for them deviding and thought the views might be relevant here.



These are only from the think tank and are not scientifically varified though:
They renew their relatively simple cellular layers all the

time or at least around time of fission and so the old cells are renewed by the new ones, so old age does not come into it.
The fission is to increase in numbers and

so increase their chance of sustaining their survival against such things as preditor and attrition rather than old age

Miss the think tanks so this forum is good

idea, thanks

Melanie

[administration]

Mel.. here is the gist of the topic for the think tank:

Snakelock Anemones (Anemonia viridis) can reproduce

by Longitudinal Fission, in which case both bodies are the same age.

What I am interested to seek out is:
**What is their known life span, if any length has

been determined.
**How many times would they split in a life time.

Any knowledge/thoughts?

I have a theory through an inquiry

learning process
This as based on:
1. Both bodies being same age
2. Each body is a muticellular, but simple 'bag' design.

The theory

is that they, as a body, live forever (except for external influences such as disease and predation).
However, they renew themselves on a cellular level from the

inside out..... thus they live out a life span based on the time taken for the ''renewal of cell cycle'' (what ever this may be).



Somewhere within this ''renewal life span'', there will be enough surplus energy to go through the process of

''extra cell arrangement activity'' where the reward is another body by Longitudinal Fission, thus helping the survival of the species by

''increasing numbers'' so reducing the chances of being wiped out by such things as predation and disease.

.

[Sally]

Yes, by being a simple bag design, maybe they can reproduce the cells that have been used after a time span. Like our skin cells - we replace

the outer layer continuously.

The amazing bit that gets me is the fact that the anemone is an animal, yet I never understand how it ''thinks''. Where is its brain,

or at least its central nervous bit?

Sally