This colourful group of marine animals preys on other marine animals. They have a ring of tentacles with stinging cells for catching prey. The tentacles are arranged around a central ‘mouth’.
At Trevaunance you will mainly see three main types of anemone:
- Snakelocks: The tentacles are often deep green with purple tips though they can also be brown. You see them often in clusters.
Unlike other anemones, snakelocks don’t retract (pull in) their tentacles when out of water.
Snakelocks anemones contain a fluorescent green protein which makes them glow at night under torches emitting ultraviolet light. [Photo by Rich Draisy]
- Beadlet: The tentacles are retracted when out of water so that these anemones look like blobs of jelly clinging to the rocks. Their colours range from green to brown to a dark red.
When underwater, the tentacles of beadlets fan out and the anemone starts to feed.
- Strawberry: When the tide is out, these large anemones look similar to huge … strawberries with green spots, which look a bit like strawberry pips! The tentacles are retracted.
This strawberry anemone is under water so has put out tentacles.
