COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 21 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have identified a new species of sea anemones found living inside a dead whale in the Pacific Ocean.
The sea anemones were discovered by University of Santa Cruz research associate Vicki Pearse nearly two miles below the ocean's surface, approximately 25 miles off the coast of Monterey, Calif. Since Pearse is not a sea anemone specialist, she sent the 10 specimens she found to Assistant Professor Meg Daly at Ohio State University.
Daly and doctoral student Luciana Gusmao -- who named the new species Anthosactis pearseae in honor of Pearse -- to include A. pearseae in a long-term evolutionary study of genetic relationships among sea anemones. They hope that study will provide an insight into how the different species evolved.
Daly describes A. pearseae in detail in the Journal of Natural History.
