- Have you ever wondered why anemones are sticky?
Is it their slime coat?
Are they somehow grabbing us, or their food
with their tentacles?
Maybe something else is going on?
Well the answer is simple,
but there's a lot more to anemones
and their venom than you might think.
Hi, I'm ReefMan, and this is a quick video
all about sea anemones, their venom,
and what makes them sticky to the touch.
And of course, this wouldn't be YouTube
without me saying it, so take a moment
and click the subscribe button
if you haven't done that already.
So, why are anemones sticky?
The answer is microscopic cells
that cover the surface of their tentacles,
called nematocysts.
These cells have an organelle inside them
from which the whole phylum that coral belongs to
gets it's name, the cnida.
As you may be aware, all corals, anemones, jellyfish, hydra,
all these animals belong to the phylum Cnidaria.
Every animal in the Cnidaria phylum has those organelles,
inside their cells,
and that of course includes the sea anemones.
The cnida produces a structure called the nematocyst,
and that's what's responsible
for both the sticky feeling
and the incredible pain that some of them
can inflict upon us.
When you touch an anemone or a coral
millions of these tiny harpoons fire out
and lodge themselves into your skin and they deliver
a tiny little dose of venom.
That's the stickiness you feel,
and that's the cause of the pain or welts
that you also might feel as that venom takes effect.
Sea anemones of course,
we keep them in reef tanks around the world,
and millions more people interact with them
in tide pools on the world's coastlines.
Generally nothing too unpleasant happens
when you get envenomated by one,
but of course there are exceptions to this.
Even some anemones that we keep in our home aquariums
can produce dangerous reactions
if you were to get exposed to enough of the venom.
Particularly the Haddon's Carpet Anemone
and the various Condylactis species
that some folks also keep in their tanks.
Some other anemone species
are not kept in home aquariums very often,
and for good reason.
With names like the Night Sea Anemone
or the Hell's Fire Sea Anemone
you can imagine what it might feel like
to work with these in our home aquarium.
There is actually even one report of acute kidney failure
happening after being stung by an unnamed anemone
so these are not things
that you want generally want to mess with.
Some of them, like the Haddon's Carpet Anemone
and even those tiny little Mini Carpet Anemones that we have
are closely related, they might not cause an outright pain
when you touch it,
but over time and exposure again and again
your body can develop an allergic reaction to the venom
and eventually that could become a problem for you.
There's quite a bit of research going on
about sea anemone venom, and it actually turns out
that they contain a huge variety of active compounds
that interact with other living things,
like ourselves, in interesting ways.
The Mini Carpet Anemone that I mentioned for instance,
it has venom that can block the Kv1 Potassium Channel
and that's something that's involved
in the re-polarization of muscle fibers
and tissues in your body.
So long story short,
if those pretty little Mini Carpet Anemones
could get enough of their venom into you,
you might have a heart attack
or your heart might be paralyzed,
or maybe your diaphragm will be paralyzed
and it'll be impossible for you to breathe.
Stuff like that happens
if you block your potassium channels.
And that's not fun.
Other anemones produce interesting venom as well.
Heteractis species, they make a venom
that is actually being considered for use as an insecticide
It's actually particularly effective against insect
and arachnid sodium channels.
While insects and spiders don't come into contact
with a Heteractis anemones in the wild,
it's still really an interesting thing
that the venom can be used in these ways.
In humans, for example, venom from the Giant Sun Anemone
is being studied to treat autoimmune diseases,
'cause it blocks other channels
that are involved in those diseases.
While all anemones contain nematocysts,
and all nematocysts fire toxic little harpoons
when you trigger 'em, most of those are not strong enough
to break through the barrier of your skin
and so most of them will just feel a little sticky
and we don't immediately keel over in pain
when we contact them.
Species like the Bubble Tip Anemone,
and even the Mini Carpet Anemones that I mentioned earlier
they're very unlikely to cause any harm to you,
because they're just not strong enough
to get past your skin.
So there's no need to worry about keeping them
in your home aquarium.
Others, like the Haddon's Carpet Anemone
or even the Condylactis, they can cause welts and pain,
but you have to be a little bit sensitive or allergic
to it for it to really be a problem.
So just watch out for it over time
if you have one of those in your tank.
I know this was a quick video,
and I know we covered a lot of information,
but I think it's an interesting source
just to seed your mind for future investigation
if you're interested.
Hopefully I triggered some thoughts for you,
so go and do some reading, Google is out there,
and if you're interested there's all sorts of papers
in journals like "Toxins",
you can just search on Google Scholar
about sea anemone venom and you're gonna find it
and they quickly go above my understanding.
It's very complicated chemistry stuff.
But it's interesting science nonetheless,
and I encourage you to check it out
if you are into that kind of stuff.
I also really wanted to thank the folks
at Age of Aquariums in Signal Hill
for letting me film their anemone tank for this video.
Check 'em out if you're ever in the Los Angeles
or Long Beach area, or if you're not,
you can just check their website out
it's ageofaquariums.biz
and so yeah, thanks for watching, have a fantastic day!
I'll see you next time, bye!