ANIMAL: Strawberry Corallimorpharian Corynactis californica Type of Animal: Corallimorph Habitat: Attached to live rock, shaded vertical rocks, rocks in areas w/ current, tide/intertidal pools, under canopies of giant kelp/southern sea palm, strong current rocky shores under rock ledges, strong current concrete wharf pilings, plastic foam floats w/ strong currents, low intertidal zone rocky shores w/ current, ocean rocks, coral heads, bay bottoms, river bottoms, found at depths of over 300 ft Location(s): E Pacific from British Columbia to Mexico Appearance: Bright red to dark red to pinkish-red w/ clear to white tentacles & fringed white or clear tentacle tips, have strawberry look to them, some animals come in purple/brown/orange/pink/white/pale blue/lavender/buff colors Food/Diet: Planktonic crustaceans, larvae, copepods, zooplankton, small fish, shrimp, mussels, tubifex worms Status in Wild: Stable Lifestyle: Huge colonies closely packed together as wide as 66 ft Additional Info: Called: Male Female Young: Planula Group: Colony Diameter: 1 in Gestation: Less than 1 hour (asexual) 2-3 days (sexual) Life Span: 60-100 years Height: 1 in Length: 1 in Main predators are sea stars, grey sea slugs, tompot blennies, snails, & nudibranchs. These animals can reproduce sexually & asexually. When reproducing sexually, they produce egg strings/testicular cysts synchronously. More often, they reproduce asexually w/ method called longitudinal division in which 1 animal creates many copies of itself. These copies can cover more than a square mile. Many colonies are copies of 1 parent individual. Can also asexually reproduce by fission & budding. These animals compete w/ other corallimorphs, sea anemones, & corals for space, attacking/killing them w/ toxins passed through prolonged contact. Sexual reproduction in this species usually occurs from late November to mid-December. Egg production occurs from August-November. Besides using string-like extensions to kill competing species, they’re also used for killing larger prey & in defense. Southern sea palms assist these animals in directing food particles to polyps. Fun Fact(s): Due to asexual reproduction, they can live indefinitely. Also called Strawberry Anemones, Club-Tipped Anemones, California Club-Rays, & California Sea Anemones. These animals not true anemones-unlike true anemones, tentacles end in knobs & are not fully retractile. Besides being similar to true anemones, they’re also similar to corals but lack hard coral skeletons.
