The anemone most divers here meet first, and almost always by its tenants rather than by itself: this is the host of the two-banded clownfish on these reefs. Tentacles are tipped with a swelling just below the point, giving the bubbles behind the name - though a hungry or stressed animal drops them and reverts to plain taper, which confuses people expecting a permanent feature. Colour runs green through brown to red, and the disc reaches about 30 cm (12 in).
The base is jammed into a crevice or under coral, so what shows is the crown alone; a large individual may sit deep enough that only the tentacle tips are visible. It catches plankton and small fish with stinging cells, and takes energy from symbiotic algae in its own tissues as well. Colonies build by splitting: an animal divides down the middle and both halves regrow, which is why a single crevice can hold a dozen clones with their own clownfish groups. The sting is harmless to a diver but not to bare fingers held against it, and the resident fish will make their objection clear long before that becomes an issue.
- tentacle tips swollen into bubbles below the point
- green, brown or red-tipped tentacles, rarely all one colour
- base wedged deep in a crevice, only tentacles showing
- usually with clownfish in residence
