The Beauty of My Aquarium’s Anemones

Carlos Fraguela

HAVANA TIMES – A few months ago I accidentally discovered that I could take superb photographs by aiming the flash on my camera at the glass panel in the back of my aquarium. The reflection produces a kind of x-ray of the aquatic specimens that live in my house.

The anemones reproduce and develop at great speed, as do the algae and almost all of the invertebrates I raise. The first photos accentuated even more the lovely transparency of these polyps, revealing colors that I hadn’t noticed with my naked eye.

I want to clarify that because the artificial lighting I use doesn’t coincide with the natural light, my creatures have developed in a very different way than they do in a natural setting. In the case of the anemones, they tend to stretch out for lack of sunlight, an effect similar to that of plants which grow taller when they don’t have enough light in an effort to reach what they lack.

The ones I have now reproduce via a process known as pedal laceration: that is, small pieces break off the pedal disc and in a few days regenerate as clones of the mother. Every week an adult anemone can give way to eight or nine individuals, each a perfect copy of the original.

Intervening in the life of these small creatures makes up a passionate part of my existence. They are born in my house, and when they reach a certain size I take them to the sea and free them. I believe that they experience a kind of fascination upon discovering that their world is so much larger than what they had felt.

They develop an infinite variety of choreographies when they decide to let themselves be carried by the currents, demonstrating that ocean life is the richest and most unknown to human beings across the planet. My aquarium is infinitely small in proportion to the ocean, like a tiny drop. Nonetheless, due to the diversity that it contains, it never stops creating new life that I observe and enjoy while it constantly changes.

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