A Redescription and Characterization of the Transcriptome of the Sea Anemone Edwardsia elegans (Verrill)

AbstractEdwardsia elegans Verrill, 1869 is the most commonly encountered and discussed species of Edwardsia from North America. Although it is familiar and commonly cited in field guides, its anatomy, cnidom, life history, and molecular resources have been only partially described. We provide a full account of E. elegans, along with an annotated transcriptome, and differentiate it from other species of Edwardsia from the western North Atlantic. We also describe the juvenile morphology and natural history of E. elegans, based on in situ observations in Maine and ex situ observations of captive specimens maintained in an aquarium. Edwardsia elegans is distinguished from all other edwardsiids from North America in having 16 tentacles arrayed in two cycles of eight, nemathybomes forming distinct aggregations in the middle of each mesenterial compartment, and a bulbous physa. Adults burrow using their physa and tend to aggregate into clusters in the field and the lab. Analysis of the transcriptome reveals differences in content of genes related to cellular stress with a broadly studied edwardsiid species, Nematostella vectensis. This updated account and the availability of reference sequence data for E. elegans will be useful for future research with this species and comparative work across edwardsiid anemones and the Cnidaria.