Arctic sea anemone and other benthic cnidarians are sessile animals, which mostly require hard substrates such as shells or rocks to settle on, although some may burrow in the sediment. The columnar body of an arctic sea anemone has a mouth in its center that is surrounded by tentacles used to collect food. Food particles end up in a stomach-like cavity that fills out most of the body and is partitioned by septa. Like other cnidarians, anemones have nematocysts, cells which are used to paralyze their prey consisting of various invertebrates and sometimes even fish. Unlike some other cnidarians, anemones lack a medusa (jelly fish) stage. This picture was taken at Furnace Quarry on the north of Loch Fyne.

Back to last page

Picture by John Nicolson