Do Anemones have "brains" and "think"?

[civileng68]

Do anemones have "brains" and/or do they actually "think" ?
I say this because they act very intelligent. I watch mine when I feed it. I latches on to the food. It moves it around and if it's not hungry it will pull the food away from it's mouth and throw it the side. It really responds to anything that touches it. It just seems intelligent but then, it just looks like a "plant' of sorts.
Does anyone know anything just to help my knowledge on them?

 

[ophiura]

No, they do not have brain, nor a particularly well developed nervous system. Basically they have a "nerve net" system. They certainly respond to stimuli, but do not "think" as we know it. But I would also offer that looking at nervous systems from a strictly human perspective is also probably limiting. Brittlestars (and all echinoderms) also do not have a brain, but have exceedingly complex behaviors and sensory structures. Basically we don't understand how they work.

 

[thomas712]

Wait I'll disect one for you..........hmmmm Nope no brain. But here are the results of what I did find.
They have a single body part that serves as the stomach, lung, intestine, and basically all other organs. They also have a mouth, which also acts as its anus. Surrounding the mouth the Sea Anemone has many tentacles which contain nematocysts at the ends. Check out the cross section if you want to learn the body parts, its located in a sticky in the clownfish and Anemone forum.
I could even cough up some DNA testing if you like but it wouldn't help really.
Basically even though they don't have a brain they have managed to piss me off, elude me, thwart me, outnumber me, and I swear on occation laugh at me. Oh wait that wasn't the anemones that was the last party in the Shark Tank with the other moderators...

or was it :thinking: