Welcome to the Photo Gallery Spotlight. Each
month we'll showcase a particularly nice aquarium photograph, taking the time to discuss
the identification and husbandry of the animal pictured as well as information relating to
the technical details of how the photo was taken. Readers are encouraged to send
images (and details on the organisms pictured, as well as the details of how they captured
the shot) they would like to submit for possible inclusion in this feature to terry@advancedaquarist.com . For submissions
that are published in Advanced Aquarist, the author will receive a $25.00 gift certificate
toward a purchase from one of our advertisers chosen by the recipient.
Anthopleura sp. anemone
I've had this anemone for approximately one year. I fed it
daily with a mix of meaty seafood and it grew in that time to 4 inches in diameter. It
recently divided overnight into three distinct specimens. It was subsequently identified
by Alf Nielsen as a species from the genus Anthopleura. These anemones occur in
shallow water under bright sunlight but do not necessarily harbor zooxanthellae. Julian
Sprung says that he has observed these anemones on rocky jetties and in tide pools in the
tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean. Julian expressed concern that their "stickiness"
may mean that they aren't safe with small fish, but I haven't experienced any fish losses
and they share an aquarium with a few small Anthias and a blenny. I hope to see
these anemones commonly available in the aquarium trade someday because I've found them to
be hardy and quite attractive.
The picture was taken with a Fuji S1 Pro
digital SLR camera and a Tamron zoom lens set at 133mm. The resultant six megapixel
picture was reduced for the web. A Nikon SB-26 flash was used off the camera to light the
shot, and the camera was set at an aperture setting of F11 and a shutter speed of 1/125
second. The flash was used off the camera in order to avoid reflections from the glass.