A note on the Sea anemones (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Actiniaria) of Lakshadweep, Arabian Sea

Abstract

Sea anemones are one of the ecologically significant faunal communities in coastal and marine ecosystems of the world along with their economic and biochemical prominence. Despite plentiful significance and roles, the studies on sea anemones are still not made profusely from Lakshadweep. A total of six species of sea anemones are recorded from Lakshadweep based on the present study (five species) and previous literature review, while three species such as Nemanthus annamensis Carlgren, 1943, Phymanthus sp. (genus level) and Heteractis aurora (Quoy and Gaimard, 1833) are reported as new records from these atolls. Morphological descriptions, along with their distributional ranges, are represented in this paper.