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A fireworks anemone living on a muddy sea floor, its long white tentacles flared in a sunburst like an underwater explosion of light

Fireworks anemone © Cathy Lewis

Fireworks anemone

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Enw gwyddonol: Pachycerianthus multiplicatus
This rare anemone lives up to its name with a spectacular display of long, white tentacles.

Top facts

Stats

Tentacles: up to 30cm across
Column: up to 30cm tall

Conservation status

Nationally rare. Listed in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan as a species of conservation concern.

Pryd i'w gweld

January to December

Ynghylch

The fireworks anemone is found on muddy seabeds, usually in water between 10 and 130 metres deep. Unlike the more familiar rockpool anemones that attach themselves to rocks, this is a burrowing anemone. It lives within a tube in the seafloor, which can be over a metre long. It has two rings of tentacles - short ones around its mouth, with longer ones around the outside. It can't retract its tentacles like some anemones do, but may coil them up if it's disturbed.

What to look for

A deep water anemone with an elongated body and two rings of tentacles. The inner tentacles are short, stiff and pale brown. The outer tentacles are very long and white, sometimes with brown rings.

Where to find

Mainly found in sea lochs on the western coast of Scotland.

Roeddech chi yn gwybod?

There can be up to 200 tentacles in its outer ring.