Plumose anemone
Metridium senile
- Scientific name
- Metridium senile
- Group
- Cnidarians (corals, anemones, jellyfish)
- Rarity
- Common
- Where to see it
- Temperate Atlantic / English Channel, Cold / polar waters
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Not evaluated
Did you know?
Its hundreds of feathery tentacles filter plankton from the current, and it can slowly creep across rock or even split itself in two to reproduce.
What defines this group — Cnidarians (corals, anemones, jellyfish)
Corals, anemones and jellyfish: the same simple animal, anchored to the bottom or drifting in open water.
- All armed with cnidocytes, harpoon cells that fire on contact.
- A body arranged in rays around a single opening, serving as both mouth and exit.
- Hard corals host algae in their tissue: it is their departure that causes bleaching.