Metridium senile

Seenelke ( Metridium senile)

The sea anemone ( Metridium senile) is a species in the order of sea anemones ( Actiniaria ).

Features

Sea anemone can grow up to 30 cm tall. Hundreds to thousands of slender tentacles give it a feather -like appearance. The color varies from white to brownish -orange.

Dissemination

The sea anemone has a circumpolar distribution in northern Baltic Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, north-east Pacific. South to New Jersey in the western Atlantic; Bay of Biscay in the eastern Atlantic; Southern California in the eastern Pacific; and South Korea in the western Pacific. Introduced populations have been found in South Africa and the Adriatic Sea.

Habitat

It grows on rocks, wood and other hard substrates from the intertidal zone to a depth of 166 m. Tolerates temperatures between 0-27 ° C.

Behavior

The animal adjusts the length of the column body, in order to adapt to the current flow. It makes use of special equipped with nematocytes catch tentacles to attack other species in the struggle for living space. The tips of the catch - tentacles stick to the victims.

The species feeds from around passively floating particles that stick to the slimy tentacles and are guided by the ciliary movement to the mouth.