WILDLIFE
BEADLET ANEMONE
Personality and immortality.
By Susanne Masters
Wildlife & Swimming
Illustration by Alice Goodridge
At low tide they look like glistening red and green sweeties stuck on rocks. When the tide rises, tentacles emerge and beadlet anemones (Actinia equina) release their aggressive impulses. Bright blue dots underneath their tentacles, as if they are wearing a necklace of beads, are where their stinging powers reside for claiming territory. When touched by an anemone that is genetically different, beadlet anemones inflate these blue dots, called acrorhagi, revealing them to be specialised tentacles. Acrorhagi are exclusively used for fighting other anemones. Standard tentacles surrounding their mouth are red or green - the same colour as their central column - and have stinging cells that are used for immobilising prey before eating it. They eat anything they can catch and cram into their mouths from small fish and shrimps to crabs.