An anemone that shows only its crown: the body sits deep in a crevice or under a coral head, and what a diver sees is a ring of tentacles thickened into distinct clubs at the tips, brown to grey with paler ends. Fully extended the animal reaches about 15 cm (6 in), but almost all of that stays out of sight.
The clubbed tentacles are the identifying feature and the working end: they are packed with stinging cells and used to catch small animals that pass the entrance at night. By day the crown withdraws and the crack looks empty. Anemones of this genus are common on reefs worldwide and almost never noticed, because looking for them means putting a torch into holes rather than scanning surfaces - the same habit that turns up the reef lobsters and the wart slugs.
- tentacles thickened into clubs at the tips
- only the crown visible, body hidden in a crack
- brown to grey with paler tentacle tips
- height up to 15 cm, mostly concealed
