- Sea pansy
Taxobox | name = Sea pansy | status =
image_width = 250px
image_caption =
regnum =Animal ia
phylum =Cnidaria
classis =Anthozoa
subclassis =Alcyonaria
ordo =Pennatulacea
familia =Renillidae
genus =
species = "R. reniformis"
binomial = "Renilla reniformis"
binomial_authority =
synonyms =The Sea pansy is quite frequently found washed ashore on northeast
Florida beaches following northeasterly winds or roughsurf conditions. It also can often be found livingintertidal ly (in-situ) completely buried in the sand. Itspredator is the stripedsea slug , "Armina tigrina ".The Sea pansy is a collection of
polyps with different forms and functions. A single, giant polyp up to two inches in diameter forms the anchoring stem (peduncle). This peduncle can be distended to better anchor the colony in the substrate. The pansy-like body bears many small, anemone-like feeding polyps. A cluster oftentacle less polyps form an outlet valve that releases water to deflate the colony. If the colony is on asand bar at low tide, it usually deflates and becomes covered with a thin film of silty sand. Small white dots between the feeding polyps are polyps that act as pumps to expand the deflated colony. The feeding polyps secrete a sticky mucus to trap tiny organisms suspended in the water. The colony’s rigidity and purple color come fromcalcium carbonate spicules throughout the polyps tissues.The sea pansy is strikingly
bioluminescent when disturbed, due toGreen Fluorescent Protein , a molecule that has become extremely important recently for modern biological science. [cite book|author=Edward Ruppert, Richard Fox |title=Seashore Animals of the Southeast |year=1988 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press]Sources
[http://150.176.130.202/species/seapansy.htm Whitney laboratory for Marine Bioscience]
[http://www.jaxshells.org/ Bill Frank, Jacksonville, Florida]
Reference
Links
[http://bmbiris.bmb.uga.edu/wampler/biolum/gfp/ Discussion of green fluorescent protein in the sea pansy]
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