See also Do blue LEDs narrow our reefkeeping choice? The gold torch anemone is virtually indistinguishable from this actual Euphyllia glabrescensĪ ‘typical’ ritteri anemone is a large bouquet of jade green tentacles supported by a massive fleshy pink base but this is only the archetypal form that is photographed as large adults mostly in the Indo and West-Pacific ocean. ![]() Currently classified as Heteractis magnifica but which research has shown is probably more closely related to the Stichodactyla carpet anemones, the Ritteri anemone is known to have some variability to its appearance but nowhere near approaching the range of colors that we see in carpet or bubble anemones. Once you realize that this animal is an anemone and not a Sclaractinian the large pink foot of the animal paired with its thick, white tipped tentacles bares all of the hallmarks of a Ritteri anemone, although unlike any that have ever been documented before. Indeed this perfect gold torch coral mimic has fooled everyone who expected to see a skeleton holding up that mass of perfectly costumed tentacles and there’s still a lot of questions surrounding the ‘gold torch anemone’. Imagine the diver’s surprise when he swam down to what he thought was almost certainly a gold torch coral but then saw it quickly retract like an anemone when it was disturbed. ![]() But you’ll be amazed that this ‘torch coral’ is not even a coral at all, it’s a radically colored anemone that was discovered by Nick’s Oceanarium at his local wholesaler in Australia. If you’re anything like us, when your eyes first focused on the image above you instinctively thought this coral was one of many new strains of gold or holy grail style torch corals which are all the rage in the reefing world these days.
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