…………………………for the Coastwise meeting, where scheduled speaker Chris Willson from Torridge District Council was unable to come and talk about Coastal defence.
Instead, members enjoyed a film courtesy of Somerset Wildlife Trust by Dr Sarah Lane of Plymouth University on her research into anemones and their behaviour.
She showed that anemones are present from the tropics to the ice of Antarctica, and explained the various means of reproduction and defence.
Beadlets (Actinia equina) have defensive weapons in the form of acrorhagi which house nematocysts, which are barbed ‘harpoons’ on threads. She showed sequences of attack and defence, with anemones suffering damage.
She was able to measure the amount of damage by looking at the immune response of the mircobiobial mucus layer. The immune response is reduced due to cell damage and necrosis.
Members also enjoyed Paula Ferris’ video footage through her microscope of plankton and the micro-life that exists in tangles of seaweed and, e.g. kelp holdfasts.
