Name: Beadlet anemone
Scientific Name: Actinia equina Linnaeus
Family: Actiniidae
Group: Anemones, corals and jellyfish
Class: Invertebrates
Size: 0-10 cm.
The anemones are benthic animals (living on the bottom), which, despite their appearance, are able to move. They are passive predators, that is, they capture the animals that occasionally touch their tentacles armed with nematocysts. These inject a toxin in their prey, numbing and killing them.The beadlet anemone is very common in the tidal area and resists exposure to air during low tide. In order to do so, it lessens its loss of water by retracting its tentacles and segregating a protective mucous that covers its body.Contrary to others cnidarians, it presents direct development, that is, once fertilised, the eggs develop inside the female. Later, she releases small totally developed anemones.
Photo by:
www.flyingsharks.eu
North Atlantic
