Dawn Taylor, Age 11, Of St. Catharines, Ont., Canada, for her question:
Does the sea anemone have any natural enemies?
The salty waters of the seas teem with creatures large and small, and the first rule of life in the ocean is eat or be eaten. The days and nights are full of foes and fears. Like all other marine animals, the pretty sea anemones have their share of enemies and hardships.
Sea anemones thrive in shallow waters near the shores. Their flowery faces cluster together in tidal pools, looking like gardens of dahlias and daisies. Others live where we cannot see them, anchored to the floor of the deep ocean a mile or more below the surface. All of them look for all the world like pastel petaled blossoms, and they belong in the class anthozoa, a scientific term meaning the flower animals. Nevertheless, the 1000 or so sea anemones are animals.
The pretty creatures must live in the tide tossed, mixing and merging waters of the salty sea. It is not easy to watch the events of their daily lives in natural conditions, but a few patient observers have done it. It is not easy to keep them alive in the laboratory where they need fresh supplies of marine food and constant changes of sea water, but this, too, has been done.
In natural conditions, a cluster of sea anemones anchored in a rocky crevice was observed to live for 30 years. In captivity, one sea anemone lived 80 years and another outlived one, two and then three of his laboratory caretakers. The dainty creatures look fragile, but they are tough and able to survive through many years. They may, however, meet with accidents, with hungry enemies and hardships from the tossing sea.
The flowery petals of a sea anemone are really tentacles armed with stingers to stun the smaller creatures on which he feed$. The little $ea dwellers that share his watery world are no threat to the flower animal, and as a rule they avoid him., larger fish and sturdy starfishes sometimes dare to attack him; crabs and well armed lobsters often squash him as they prowl through his underwater garden.
The sea anemone's greatest risks carne from the sea itself. An extra low tide may leave him high and dry to perish on a sun scorched beach. The waves from a hurricane may shatter his world and bash him to bits. Winds and waves can stir up the sea bed and choke him with mud and sandy silt.
The sea anemone gets along well with most of the creatures that share his watery world. He may become anchored to a crusty crab and ride around like a sea going cowboy. He may become partners with a little fish. The stinging tentacles protect the fish from fiercer foes. In return, its vivid colors attract food to the mouth of the hungry flower animal.