ALL ABOUT SEA ANEMONES

What are sea anemones

Sea anemones[uh-nem-uh-nee] may look like flowers but actually are meat eating animals.

They are invertebrates and have no skeleton at all.

sea anemones come in many Shapes, sizes and different colours like pink, red, white, green etc.

They live in coastal waters, deep oceans and also shallow waters. They spend most of their lives in one place, attached to firm objects in the seas usually the sea floor, rocks or coral. Some even bury themselves in mud.

The body consists of a foot shaped like a pedal, that is what allows them to secure and stay in one place and not float around. They have a body which looks like a long cylinder. They have tentacles all around the mouth,( the single body opening.) which is in the center.

Sea anemones belong to the animalia kingdom.

What is so special about sea anemones?

Sea anemones have tentacles which have poisonous stingers. It helps them catch food. In order for the sea anemone to eat, they must wait for the their food to swim by. Then they sting it with their tentacles and then push it into their mouth. The tentacles also protect the sea anemone.

Sea anemones are carnivores that eat fish, mussels, zooplankton(like copepods, other small crustaceans and tiny marine larvae) and worms.

Sea anemones are eaten by very few animals. Their predators include the Grey Sea Slug and the Tompot Blenny.

Clown fish always live near anemones as they are immune from the stinging tentacles. They are protected by the sea anemone. In return clown fish help the sea anemone by cleaning the tentacles.

Hermit crabs sometimes attach sea anemones to their shells for camouflage.

So, they are quite helpful animals

What do sea anemones look like?

Remember the starting

part of finding nemo?

Where they live in an

sea anemone?