About Anthopleura hermaphroditica (Carlgren, 1899)
Anthopleura hermaphroditica, commonly called the small brown sea anemone, is a small brown anemone that measures around 10 mm in diameter. It is native to the waters surrounding Chile and New Zealand. Its brownish outer coloration makes it much harder to spot and identify compared to many other sea anemone species. Under water, this anemone appears as a small brown ring in soft, fine sediment, where it is slightly submerged. It has a notably high tolerance for changes in salinity and for high concentrations of organic matter in the water it inhabits. The small brown anemone lives distributed across estuaries in areas with no current. Individuals are most often found attached to cockles, where the two species form a commensal relationship. In this relationship, the anemone gains protection, while the cockle gains better camouflage that helps it hide from its predators, including the mud flat whelk (Cominella glandiformis) and sea gulls. For reproduction, this species uses external fertilization. The fertilized zygote develops into a pear-shaped planula larva, which attaches to rocks or other solid substrates before growing into a young adult anemone.
