Epibiont sea anemones inhabiting the American crocodile Crocodylus acutus

Abstract

Ticks, leeches, and barnacles are among the various kindsof organisms recorded as epibionts on crocodiles(Huchzermeyer2003; Cupul-Magana et al.2011).Although sea anemones have been reported to live onliving organisms such as sponges, hermit crabs, and seaturtles (Caine 1986; Patzner 2004; Gonzalez-Munoz et al.2012), no previous reports are known of sea anemonesliving on crocodiles. On 27 March 2013, an adult femaleof the American crocodile Crocodylus acutus (Cuvier,1807) (236 cm total length, 125 cm snout-vent length)was captured in the Xtacum lagoon, south of CozumelIsland, Quintana Roo, Mexico (coordinates UTM: 16 Q0502168–2242570, WGS84), in shallow water (0.3 mdeep) separated ~120 m from the sea by a 7 m high sanddune and beach. Nine sea anemones were attached to itstail and the side of the abdomen (Fig.1a, b). Specimensof the same species were observed on wooden posts of asmall dock and on a submerged stump a few meters awayfrom the capture site. Collected specimens were depositedin the Collection of Cnidarians of the Gulf of Mexico andMexican Caribbean Sea (Registration code: YUC-CC-254-11) of the Unidad Multidisciplinaria de Docencia eInvestigacion, Universidad Nacional Autonoma deMexico (UNAM) in Sisal. Because the collected seaanemones were initially fixed in ethanol 70 %, an appro-priate identification could not be performed. However,