Flower anemones, Epicystis crucifer, is one of the hottest sea animals in the reef aquarium hobby right now and these beautiful creatures are impressing us in a crazy assortment of colors. We’ve seen every eye-melting shade of red, orange, green, and combinations thereof but the newly imported half & half flower anemone from Eye Catching Coral is in a league of its own.
With tentacles that are red on one half, and green on the other half, the one of a kind half & half Flower anemone looks every bit like a man made creation in the same vein as the Frankenscoly. That particular Scolymia australis was the result of mad scientist reefers but as far as we know this particular bicolored Epicystis is the work of nature.
It’s possible that this kind of bicolored fusion could be created by artificial means but then the oral discs would surely show signs of the fusion. Our best explanation for this crazy beautiful half & half Flower anemone is either a Chimera, the fusion of two zygotes at early stages of development, or the infection of green fluorescent protein somewhere along the anemone’s life. We’re leaning towards the former explanation since we’ve seen next to no examples of GFP infection in anemones.
Whatever the reason for this incredible red and green morph of flower anemone, it’s the crazy beautiful kind of color pattern that stands out even in a crowded collection of Flower ‘Nems. Thanks to Eye Catching Coral for the pictures of their new score, we bet one of their regular customers is going to be quite pleased when they get this Epicystis crucifer.
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