Sea Anemones

Jewel Anemones

Taken by Ian Lawler, Dublin University Sub-Aqua Club

Jewel Anemones
Taken by Ian Lawler, Dublin University Sub-Aqua Club

Jewel Anemones

Taken by Ian Lawler, Dublin University Sub-Aqua Club

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Sea anemones live their adult life like a tiny living “wheelie-bin”. One end is fixed to a hard surface such as a rock, while the other end is an open mouth surrounded by tentacles. Each tentacle is usually lined with specialised “stinging cells” capable of injecting anything that touches them with a paralysing poison. The tentacles then take hold of their prey and drag it inside the “bag” of the anemone, where it is digested over time and any inedible parts simply spat back out.

In Ireland , there are no sea anemones with stinging cells capable of piercing human skin. So all you might feel, when you touch the tentacles of a sea anemone, is the sensation of ‘stickiness’. Because sea anemones do not have a protective shell to stop them drying out, they are mainly found on the lower shore and in rock pools where they can keep wet. The two most common species are:

• The Beadlet Anemone (Actinia equine) which looks like a red or green blob of jelly when the tide goes out because it can withdraw its tentacles inside its body to protect itself from drying out when the tide goes down and

• The Snakelocks Anemone (Anemonia sulctata) a greeny-grey anemone which cannot withdraw its tentacles inside its body and so prefers to remain in rock pools or damp crevices.