Digestion in sea anemones

Abstract

A sea anemone, normally a passive-looking animal, reacts to suitable food-stuffs by a series of fairly complicated activities. When its tentacles encounter solid food there is, first of all, a discharge of cnidae, which poison living prey and adhere to the food mass. These cnidae are independent effectors, responding directly to external excitation (Pantin, 1942). Next, the tentacles clasp the food and bend towards the mouth; they push the food into the mouth, and the pharynx draws it down into the coelenteric cavity where it is digested (Pantin & Pantin, 1943).