144 Phylum Coelenterata 



Class Anthozoa 



SAGARTIA LUCIAE 



Donald W. Davis, The College of William and Mary 



Sagartia luciae may be collected at any season from tide pools, piles, 

 rocks, and seaweed within its range — Atlantic coast, Massachusetts to 

 Virginia; also Oakland Harbor, San Francisco Bay. It lives indefinitely 

 in the laboratory with slight care and reproduces freely asexually, but has 

 not been known to reproduce sexually under laboratory conditions. 

 Specimens should be placed in seawater of a depth of one or two inches 

 and exposed to diffuse sunlight. The glass container may well be cov- 

 ered lightly to reduce evaporation and to exclude dust. For the first few 

 days after bringing specimens into the laboratory care should be exer- 

 cised that the water does not become foul through decomposition of frag- 

 ments of the specimens, of undigested food that they may eject, or of 

 other organisms that do not survive the change. It is, therefore, ad- 

 visable to change the water occasionally during the first few days. If 

 economy of the water supply is required, it should be filtered and may 

 then be used over and over. 



These anemones thrive in tide pools of a rocky coast and gentleness 

 is not essential. Before long a growth of algae appears on the dish and 

 takes care of the oxygen supply. Probably it provides directly or in- 

 directly for the food requirements of the anemones as well, for specimens 

 thrive without special provision for feeding. They will take minute 

 fragments of fish, crab, or beef. If so fed, only firm fragments, not 

 juicy materials, should be used and the greatest care must be taken that 

 fragments, unin jested or voided after a few minutes or hours, be not left 

 to foul the water. 



One other precaution is of much importance. If specimens are left 

 undisturbed, a zoogloea-like coating, probably consisting of slime with 

 imbedded organisms, covers the column and eventually the whole con- 

 tracted specimen. At intervals of two or three days each such coat 

 should be removed from the dish after being separated from the anem- 

 one by means of a gentle stream of water directed at its attachment to 

 the glass. Occasionally rain water should be added to compensate ap- 

 proximately for evaporation. 



Bibliography 



Davis, Donald W. 1919. Asexual multiplication and regeneration in Sagartia luciae 

 Verrill. J. Exper. Zool. 28:161. 



