Morphological description and molecular characterisation of green aggregating sea anemone, Anthopleura elegantissima (Brandt, 1835) (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) from southwest coast of India

Abstract

Green aggregating sea anemone, Anthopleura elegantissima (Brandt 1835) is found in the intertidal region of Thirumullavaram (Lat. 8°89’53“N, Long. 76°55.61”E), southwest coast of India. During the survey, individuals of A. elegantissima were found to inhabit the crevices of intertidal rocky habitat. There are some studies on the distribution of A. elegantissima from Indian waters. However, little work has been done on the molecular description and characterisation of A. elegantissima in India. This study represents the first morphological description and molecular characterization (based on mitochondrial COI gene) of A. elegantissima from southwest coast of India. Molecular study based on COI sequences confirmed the speciation viz. phylogenetic tree (based on NJ analysis) and genetic distance data (intraspecific divergence up to 0.60% within the generated sequences)