Sea anemones (Actiniaria)

Snakelocks anemone

Anemonia viridis(15 photos)

Observed at

Bajo Piles I(Cabo de Palos)Túneles de Port Salvi(Sant Feliu de Guíxols)Roca Muladera(Tossa de Mar)Pedra de Déu(Illes Medes)Torre Ferrer(Costa del Maresme)La Calita(La Herradura)Las Planetas(Sant Feliu de Guíxols)

Sea anemone

(8 photos)

Up to 30 cm1–40mRocky reefCoral reef

A flower-like animal with a ring of colorful tentacles surrounding a central mouth, attached to rocks or coral. Comes in many species and colors — reds, greens, purples.

Tentacles sway in the current waiting for food to drift past — look for clownfish in tropical species and shrimp hiding among the tentacles.

Observed at

Pedra de Déu(Illes Medes)Roca Muladera(Tossa de Mar)Mar Menuda(Tossa de Mar)

Cribrinopsis crassa

Cribrinopsis crassa(8 photos)

Observed at

Las Planetas(Sant Feliu de Guíxols)El Trencat(Costa del Maresme)La Calzada(Costa del Maresme)El Jardín y La Red(Sant Feliu de Guíxols)

Cylinder anemone

Cerianthus membranaceus(7 photos)

Up to 30 cm5–40mSand

A large tube-dwelling cerianthid (not a true sea anemone) that lives in a buried felt-like tube. Two whorls of long tentacles, a wide outer crown and shorter inner ones, in colours ranging from white to violet, brown or yellow.

Observed at

Las Planetas(Sant Feliu de Guíxols)Piedra del Hombre(La Herradura)La cueva del diablo(El Hierro)

Bubble-tip anemone

Entacmaea quadricolor(7 photos)

Up to 30 cm1–25mRocky reef

A widespread Indo-Pacific sea anemone whose tentacles often end in a swollen bulb-like tip. A favoured host for clownfish; colour ranges from brown to vivid rose-red.

Observed at

Small Crack(Sharm El Sheikh)Jackson reef(Sharm El Sheikh)Woodhouse Reef(Sharm El Sheikh)

Trumpet anemone

Aiptasia mutabilis(2 photos)

Up to 10 cm0–20mRocky reef

A small anemone with a smooth brown column and long, slender, translucent tentacles that cannot fully retract. Common on shaded rock and harbour walls; its brown tint comes from symbiotic algae.

Observed at

Bajo de Dentro(Cabo de Palos)Mar Menuda(Tossa de Mar)

Dohrn's tube anemone

Pachycerianthus dohrni(1 photos)

Up to 15 cm5–40mSand

A Mediterranean cerianthid (not a true sea anemone) that lives in a buried tube. Smaller than the cylinder anemone, with a slender crown of fine tentacles, often faintly banded.

Observed at

La cueva del diablo(El Hierro)

Sea anemones

Species

Snakelocks anemone

Sea anemone

Cribrinopsis crassa

Cylinder anemone

Bubble-tip anemone

Trumpet anemone

Dohrn's tube anemone

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