Stichodactyla haddoni eggs

Not sure what to think. She I am assuming its a she did this about 24 hours before the super moon that was this spring. 
 
Are these eggs or are they already fertilized? In the tank they appear to have "spikes" like an urchin 

Looks like socks to me... or Bugs Bunny feet... just sayin'

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Did you see them come from the anemone?

Chad Penney - MBI Council
Agis quod Adis

Not 100% as the anemone has moved under a rock. It did this one other time and we could see it and it appeared the same. Also the majority of this was in its general area. 
 
I had no idea I was in the reflection I would say tens of thousands of these in the water. The only other thing it could have been was the coral, but I have seen so sign of them emitting anything and this way just like the last time the anemone did this. 

Here you can see it on the left hand rock structure. 

 
Now it has moved under that same structure so I cannot see its mouth.

Found this, not sure if what happened in my tank is anyway related to wild spawning. What triggers these events?
http://mauinow.com/2011/07/31/watch-coral-spawn-at-the-maui-ocean-center/

Hmm, anemone planulae (and all coral planulae, too, I think) usually have that "featureless ovoid" thing going:
 
http://www.asnailsodyssey.com/LEARNABOUT/ANEMONE/anemSexu.php
 
The only time they change from that is supposed to be when they find a settling place and then they flatten out like a pancake.
 
Maybe those are sperm packets? Or maybe fecal pellets?

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

Thanks for the link, they look just like the Day 1 picture in research study three(Urticina spp.) with the spikes like sea mine or urchin. I mean they look just like that while in the water and having not been through the ecotechs or my collection device.  Any ideas what could produce that many fecal pellets? Or sperm packets?
 
I saved a few in a bucket with phyto.

Well, cool then. That's not what I see in your photo, but photos don't always tell the whole story. Please take more pictures.
 
I am fairly surprised, because usually the "featureless ovoid" is the traveling stage for the planulae. From what I understand, you don't usually see changes from that until settlement because that is the most efficient shape to move through the water and all they have to paddle with are cilia.
 
To answer your questions: Any ideas what could produce that many fecal pellets? Anything that's eaten that much food.
 
Or sperm packets? Sperm's easy to make. It takes much less energy than creating the eggs that eventually become the planulae. So, anything that could make that many planulae could, if male, make that many sperm packets.

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

So, I'm sorry. Pre-coffee here. I didn't read my own link well enough.
 
The day 1 larvae that you are talking about from the study are still pre-spawn. That one's still at 16 cell stage, maybe just one cleavage from finally (for the first time) forming a ball of cells, which is the first time the baby animal has an "inside" and an "outside." If you are seeing those, then something is seriously wrong. As the photo labels say on that series, day 8 is when you get planula. A planula is a released larvae (that's the definition). If you see day 1 larvae, then yours have been released a full week early.

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

I was surprised they looked that way as well. I am using these slides and I am thinking that it may have caused them to appear flattened due to them floating and the concave. What do you guys use for viewing and taking pictures under your microscopes? 
 
http://www.carolina.com/product/life+science/microscope+slides/slides+and+covers/concavity+slides%2C+plastic%2C+3+x+1+in%2C+18+x+3+mm+well%2C+pack+10.do?sortby=ourPicks

I love my anemones and fish.
 
I have kept red rose Entacmaea quadricolors for many years in my 120H and have had them split a few times.
 
I also have had an 18" Stichodactyla gigantean on the opposite side of the tank on the opposite side of the tank for approximately two years.  It has grown from its 8" size when I rescued it from the tiny plastic box at Petco.
 
I recently acquired a light  mint green Stichodactyla haddoni around five inches in another tank.
 
I used to feed my Entacmaea quadricolors only half inch pieces of razor clam until I obtained the Stichodactyla gigantean after which started to feed them silversides.  I do have an pound of cut up razor clam in the freezer that I have yet to serve.
 
I am wondering how the Stichodactyla gigantean and Stichodactyla haddoni reproduce.
 
Maybe some day I will find out as long as I keep feeding them!
 
Found the information below on Wikipedia.
 
The sexes in sea anemones are separate in some species, while other species, like the brooding anemone (Epiactis prolifera), are protandric hermaphrodites. The gonads are strips of tissue within the mesenteries. Both sexual and asexual reproduction can occur. In sexual reproduction males release sperm to stimulate females to release eggs, and fertilization occurs. Anemones eject eggs and sperm through the mouth. The fertilized egg develops into a planula, which settles and grows into a single polyp.
Anemones can also reproduce asexually, by budding, binary fission (the polyp separates into two halves), and pedal laceration, in which small pieces of the pedal disc break off and regenerate into small anemones.
 
clownish

My understanding is that these anems are a single sex (either male or female), and if you can get a strong flashlight around the back of your aquarium and shine through a female anem toward the front, it can be "candled", and you can see developing eggs in the females.
 
Also from what I hear, in captivity spawning is often triggered by an abrupt change in conditions like a mishandled water change or sharp change in salinity.  When I looked for research on anems I didn't find too much on the carpets, but there is more on the bubble tips.  In southern hemisphere Australia they spawn around the full moon in February/March which would correspond to August/September in the northern hemisphere.  They mass spawn in nature.  Hope that helps.

Very interesting Dave. 
 
As I am lowering my specific gravity in my 120H eight year old display tank from 1.026 to 1.022 over the next week or so; I will have to watch my two red rose BTAs and gigantea!
 
clownish

Clownish, keep in mind that in most animals that mass spawn their energy budget allows only one spawn per year.  We mess with this timing in captivity, for all I know you've had these anems for 5 years without any seasonal cycle to your lighting, which is often the trigger.  
 
So who knows what the animal's cycle may be at this time.  However, all else being equal, you should probably try to induce spawn in August or so when your tank will probably be at it's warmest point of the year.  Also it would be really nice if you had a sophisticated program on your controller that emulated day length and moonlight.  From what I understand in the natural cycle, the anems spawn at the end of summer and this is indicated by decreasing day length, and they spawn near a full moon.  
 
It is probably way too much to ask that you have this kind of lighting schedule, although if you have a controller I'd think it wouldn't be too much trouble to make this.  I assume other people out there have put their reefs on a seasonal lighting cycle.
 
Regarding the red bubble tips, the male anems fill the water with gametes at the right time and then the whole reef of btas goes at the same time, or on two consecutive nights.  
 
A final consideration, I hope your RBTAs weren't split from the same parent because they don't self fertilize.  The best thing to do is get anems a mile apart so they aren't clones, but would be closely related to each other.  Of course you don't know where your anems were collected, but you certainly would know if they are clones.  
 
If you are going to go the anem breeding route (and I seriously think somebody should do this!!!) you'll want to collect as many different RBTAs as possible and get them all from different sources, that way there is less likliehood of having clones.
 
If they spawn and you get planulae, I'd think they can be fed rotifers.  After settling, each planulae puts out a little filamentous fishing line and reel in anything that sticks to it.  I'd think they won't be too hard to grow and RBTAs will always be marketable.  If (when) I fail with pelagic spawners I'd like to give RBTAs a try.

I used to have two red rose BTA from different orders with quite some time in between ordering them.  Now I am down to two after the occasional anemone went rogue and ended up in the circulating pump.
 
That being said, I did not keep a log after a computer crash so I do not have any recent information regarding clones or not clones so they could be either.
 
clownish