Nervous control of light responses in the sea anemone, Calamactis praelongus

1. The burrowing sea anemone, Calamactis praelongus, responds to light with local, non-nervous contractions of the column. There are also more extensive responses of the column and retractor muscles co-ordinated by nerve net pulses (NNP's) under pacemaker control. 2. NNP's occur in at least two types of bursts and in sequences which sometimes indicate a rotating site of pulse initiation. 3. Light-evoked NNP sequences can be tape recorded and used later to drive a stimulator to reproduce the original sequences in the same or different anemones, evoking muscular responses which approximate the originals. This technique separates the pacemaker-directed component of the light response from the local effects of light stimulation. 4. Isolated circular and parietal muscles contract slowly when stimulated by light or excited indirectly by NNP's. Retractor muscles are insensitive to light but produce rapid contractions when excited by closely spaced light-evoked NNP's. 5. A model for light responses is proposed which incorporates the characteristics of isolated muscles and intact anemones.