Wild Wednesday – Beadlet anemone | Latest news

The beadlet anemone, scientific name. Actinia equina, is a common sea anemone found throughout the UK on rocky shores and in rockpools. Usually deep red, but can also be green, orange, or brown and 1.5 to 5 centimetres in diameter. 

When the tide is out, they appear as small, dark red blobs, but when the tide comes in, they release their thick, short tentacles. 

The tentacles are short, about 200 in number, which are arranged in multiple rows around the mouth. The beads, named for the small blue bead-like structures called acrorhagi, are found just below the tentacles and are used in territorial fights with other anemones as they are full of stinging cells. 

While they are not dangerous to humans, beadlet anemones have a potent weapon up their sleeves. Stinging cells known as nematocysts can be found on their tentacles and body.

They feed on small fish and plankton, which they use their tentacles to catch and sting with nematocysts (stinging cells).

Survival skills

·  survives in low tide by retracting its tentacles and forming a smooth, jelly-like blob to prevent drying out.

·  very tolerant of changes in salinity (amount of salt in the water) and water temperature

·  can survive completely submerged in water or completely out of the water, high up on shores, it is also able to survive covered in sand, due to winds. 

Read more here: Beadlet anemone | The Wildlife Trusts