---
title: Sea anemones (Actiniaria)
scientific_name: Actiniaria
common_name: Sea anemones
rank: Order
published: 2024-11-19T18:41:51.573Z
updated: 2026-08-03T21:32:47.056Z
tags: Sea anemones, Actiniaria, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones
---

# Sea anemones (*Actiniaria*)

## Quick facts

- **Rank:** Order
- **Scientific name:** Actiniaria
- **Body shape:** Invertebrate - Not a fish - coral, mollusc, crustacean, echinoderm and other invertebrate groups.
- **Species listed here:** 16

## How to recognise this group

- soft, columnar body
- attached to hard surfaces or burrowed in sand
- oral disc at top with ring of tentacles
- tentacles typically expanded to capture prey

Sea anemones are predatory marine invertebrates. Each consists of a soft, columnar body, typically anchored by an adhesive base to hard surfaces like rock or coral, or sometimes burrowed into sand. An oral disc, located at the top of the column, bears a ring of tentacles surrounding a central mouth. These tentacles are armed with stinging cnidocytes, used for defence and prey capture. Anemones vary widely in size, with oral discs ranging from a few centimetres (inches) in diameter to over 50 cm (20 in) in large species. Colours are diverse, commonly including browns, greens, or whites, often with bright tips on the tentacles.

They inhabit environments from shallow reef flats down to depths of 40 metres (130 ft). Their diet primarily consists of zooplankton, small crustaceans, and fish, which they ambush with their stinging tentacles. While most species are sessile, remaining in one spot, some possess the ability to detach and slowly relocate across the seafloor. Many anemone species host symbiotic algae, known as zooxanthellae, within their tissues, which provide additional nutrition. Some also form symbiotic relationships with other animals, notably providing shelter for clownfish or hermit crabs.


## Species (16)

- [Armed Burrowing Anemone (Scolanthus armatus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/armed-burrowing-anemone)
- [Bubble-tip Anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/bubble-tip-anemone)
- [Burrowing Sea Anemone (Edwardsianthus pudicus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/burrowing-sea-anemone)
- [Gigantic Carpet Anemone (Stichodactyla gigantea)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/gigantic-carpet-anemone)
- [Gilbert's Burrowing Anemone (Edwardsianthus gilbertensis)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/gilberts-burrowing-anemone)
- [Girdled Anemone (Triactis producta)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/girdled-anemone)
- [Glass Anemone (Exaiptasia diaphana)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/glass-anemone)
- [Haddon's sea anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/haddons-sea-anemone)
- [Hemprich's Anemone (Heterodactyla hemprichii)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/hemprichs-anemone)
- [Leathery Sea Anemone (Radianthus crispa)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/leathery-sea-anemone)
- [Magnificent Sea Anemone (Radianthus magnifica)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/magnificent-sea-anemone)
- [Mertens' Carpet Anemone (Stichodactyla mertensii)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/mertens-carpet-anemone)
- [Mini Carpet Anemone (Stichodactyla tapetum)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/mini-carpet-anemone)
- [Night Anemone (Alicia pretiosa)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/night-anemone)
- [Pizza Anemone (Cryptodendrum adhaesivum)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/pizza-anemone)
- [Swimming Anemone (Boloceroides mcmurrichi)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones/swimming-anemone)

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/stinging/sea-anemones)*
*Updated: August 3, 2026*