'' Discosoma nummiforme''
''Discosoma'' is a genus of
cnidaria
Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter.
Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that th ...
ns in the order
Corallimorpharia
Corallimorpharia is an order of marine cnidarians closely related to stony or reef building corals (Scleractinia). They occur in both temperate and tropical climates, although they are mostly tropical. Temperate forms tend to be very robust, wit ...
. Common names for the genus include mushroom anemone, disc anemone and elephant ear mushroom.
[Sprung, J]
Aquarium Invertebrates: Mushrooms, Elephants Ears, And False Corals: A Review Of The Corallimorpharia.
''Advanced Aquarist'' Volume 1. October 2002.
Most species are disc-shaped and produce large amounts of
mucus
Mucus ( ) is a slippery aqueous secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. It is typically produced from cells found in mucous glands, although it may also originate from mixed glands, which contain both serous and mucous cells. It is ...
.
[ There are a great variety of colors, including metallic and ]fluorescent
Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, tha ...
shades and striped and spotted patterns.[ ''Discosoma'' gather food particles from the water. Some species absorb nutrients produced by ]zooxanthellae
Zooxanthellae is a colloquial term for single-celled dinoflagellates that are able to live in symbiosis with diverse marine invertebrates including demosponges, corals, jellyfish, and nudibranchs. Most known zooxanthellae are in the genus ''Sy ...
, photosynthetic
Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored in c ...
dinoflagellate
The dinoflagellates (Greek δῖνος ''dinos'' "whirling" and Latin ''flagellum'' "whip, scourge") are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered algae. Dinoflagellates are ...
s living in their tissues in a symbiotic
Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...
relationship.[
Some species are sold commercially in the ]aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
trade.[
The ]red fluorescent protein
Red fluorescent protein (RFP) is a fluorophore that fluoresces red-orange when excited. Several variants have been developed using directed mutagenesis. The original was isolated from Discosoma, and named DsRed. Others are now available that fluor ...
dTomato which has applications in molecular biology as a reporter protein was first derived from the species.[Fautin, D. G. (2013)]
''Discosoma''.
World List of Corallimorpharia. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) on 18 March 2018.
*''Discosoma album
'' Discosoma nummiforme''
''Discosoma'' is a genus of cnidarians in the order Corallimorpharia. Common names for the genus include mushroom anemone, disc anemone and elephant ear mushroom.Sprung, JAquarium Invertebrates: Mushrooms, Elephants Ears ...
''
*''Discosoma carlgreni
'' Discosoma nummiforme''
''Discosoma'' is a genus of cnidarians in the order Corallimorpharia. Common names for the genus include mushroom anemone, disc anemone and elephant ear mushroom.Sprung, JAquarium Invertebrates: Mushrooms, Elephants Ears ...
'' – Forked-tentacle corallimorpharian
*''Discosoma dawydoffi
'' Discosoma nummiforme''
''Discosoma'' is a genus of cnidarians in the order Corallimorpharia. Common names for the genus include mushroom anemone, disc anemone and elephant ear mushroom.Sprung, JAquarium Invertebrates: Mushrooms, Elephants Ears ...
''
*''Discosoma fowleri
'' Discosoma nummiforme''
''Discosoma'' is a genus of cnidarians in the order Corallimorpharia. Common names for the genus include mushroom anemone, disc anemone and elephant ear mushroom.Sprung, JAquarium Invertebrates: Mushrooms, Elephants Ears ...
''
*''Discosoma fungiforme
'' Discosoma nummiforme''
''Discosoma'' is a genus of cnidarians in the order Corallimorpharia. Common names for the genus include mushroom anemone, disc anemone and elephant ear mushroom.Sprung, JAquarium Invertebrates: Mushrooms, Elephants Ears ...
''
*''Discosoma molle
'' Discosoma nummiforme''
''Discosoma'' is a genus of cnidarians in the order Corallimorpharia. Common names for the genus include mushroom anemone, disc anemone and elephant ear mushroom.Sprung, JAquarium Invertebrates: Mushrooms, Elephants Ears ...
''
*''Discosoma neglecta
'' Discosoma nummiforme''
''Discosoma'' is a genus of cnidarians in the order Corallimorpharia. Common names for the genus include mushroom anemone, disc anemone and elephant ear mushroom.Sprung, JAquarium Invertebrates: Mushrooms, Elephants Ears ...
'' – Umbrella corallimorpharian
*''Discosoma nummiforme
''Discosoma nummiforme'' is a species of cnidarian in the genus ''Discosoma'' and is relatively small in size and dimensions, while also possessing a pentagonal-shaped disk, the species itself very rarely exceeds past 2 inches in diameter, howeve ...
''
*''Discosoma rubraoris
'' Discosoma nummiforme''
''Discosoma'' is a genus of cnidarians in the order Corallimorpharia. Common names for the genus include mushroom anemone, disc anemone and elephant ear mushroom.Sprung, JAquarium Invertebrates: Mushrooms, Elephants Ears ...
''
*''Discosoma unguja
'' Discosoma nummiforme''
''Discosoma'' is a genus of cnidarians in the order Corallimorpharia. Common names for the genus include mushroom anemone, disc anemone and elephant ear mushroom.Sprung, JAquarium Invertebrates: Mushrooms, Elephants Ears ...
''
*''Discosoma viridescens
'' Discosoma nummiforme''
''Discosoma'' is a genus of cnidarians in the order Corallimorpharia. Common names for the genus include mushroom anemone, disc anemone and elephant ear mushroom.Sprung, JAquarium Invertebrates: Mushrooms, Elephants Ears ...
''
References
Discosomidae
Hexacorallia genera
{{Hexacorallia-stub
