Warty Anemone, Bunodosoma californicum
Warty Anemone, Bunodosoma californicum. Sea anemone photographed in it’s native environment off Isle Carmen within the Bahía de Loreto National Park, Baja California Sur, March 2025. Photograph and identification courtesy of Dr. Jake Turin, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Phylogeny: The Warty Anemone, Bunodosoma californicum (Carlgren, 1951), is a member of the Actiniidae Family of True Sea Anemones. The Bunodosoma genus is one of fifty-six genera in the Actiniidae Family, and there are thirteen species in the Bunodosoma genus. They are also known as the Cortez Sea Anemone and the Warty Sea Anemone. In Mexico they are called Anémona California and Anémona Verrugosa. In common namesake they can be confused with the American Warty Anemone or Warty Sea Anemone, Bunodosoma cavernatum (Bosc, 1802), found in Mexican waters of the Caribbean. The genus name Bunodosoma comes from the Greek words meaning “knobby body” or “mounded body”, referring to the warty body of species in this genus.
Morphology: The Warty Anemone has a column that is covered with densely packed rounds bumps (verrucae or vesicles). The column is non-adhesive and does not collect debris like some other sea anemones. The vesicles are arranged in neat longitudinal rows at the base of the column and are more random further up the column. The column varies in color from olive green to greenish-brown to rusty red. The oral disk is the same color as the column but has light radial lines. They have approximately 80 conical tentacles, which are slightly shorter than the width of the oral disk, that are arranged in three or four rings around the oral disk. The tentacles are of similar color to the column but have tinges of orange, purple or rose and are white at their base. Warty Anemones reach a maximum of 4.0 cm (1.4 inches) in height and their base ranges in width between 2.0 cm (0.8 inches) and 3.0 cm (1.2 inches).
Habitat and Distribution: Warty Anemones are found in protected marine environments attached to reefs and rocky substrates. They are a shallow water species, ranging from the intertidal zone to a depth of around 3 m (10 feet). Warty Anemones are a subtropical to tropical Eastern Pacific species. They are found in all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from along the west coast of the Baja Peninsula.
Diet: The Warty Anemone is a carnivore that utilizes stinging cells (nematocysts) in its tentacles to paralyze its prey. The tentacles then push the food into the mouth found in the center of the oral disk. They feed on small fish, fish larvae, crustaceans, and other small invertebrates. Warty Anemones are azooxanthellate and do not have a mutualistic relationship with zooxanthellae.
Predators: Predation of Warty Anemones is poorly documented. Other species within this genus are preyed upon by fish, gastropods, nudibranchs, Loggerhead Sea Turtles and sea stars.
Reproduction: Warty Anemones are gonochoric (male or female for life). They reproduce sexually through broadcast spawning with external fertilization. The eggs develop into planular larva. Some species within the Actiniidae family are able to reproduce by fission, however such fission has not been formally documented for the Warty Anemone.
Ecosystem Interaction: Warty Anemones have no documented parasitic, commensal, or mutualistic relationships.
Human Interaction: Warty Anemones have no direct impact on human activities. From a conservation perspective they have not been formally evaluated however they are fairly common with a relatively wide distribution and should be consider to be of Least Concern.
Synonyms: Bunodosoma californica.