Figure 4. Life cycle of a burrowing sea anemone Edwardsiella carnea (IMAGE)
Caption
Life cycle of a burrowing sea anemone Edwardsiella carnea. a. adult female and male polyps release gametes to the water column. b. a free-swimming pre-parasitic planula is formed following fertilization. c. the planula infects the ctenophore host Mnemiopsis leidyi and develops into vermiform parasitic stage. d. a post-parasitic planula leaves the ctenophore host into the water column (e) where it can either settle in the seabed (f) and develop into a polyp (a) or reinfect another ctenophore or infect schyphozoan host Rhopilema nomadica or Rhizostoma pulmo (hypothetical spillover) (g-h). a post-parasitic planula may leave the schyphozoan host, traveling in the water column (i) where it can settle on the seabed (f) and develop into a polyp. The dashed line represents an alternate pathway.
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