A carpet anemone in miniature, rarely more than 8 cm (3 in) across, its disc patterned in concentric rings of green, purple or orange and its tentacles so short that the surface reads as beadwork rather than as a crown. It lives on shallow rubble and in tide pools, where the colours make it one of the more striking things in water shallow enough to stand in.
Size is the only thing that is small about it - the sting is proportionally strong and it catches small crustaceans and worms readily. Too small to host clownfish, it is instead occupied at times by tiny commensal shrimp. It multiplies by splitting, so a rock face can carry a cluster of identical animals side by side. In the aquarium trade this species has a following that has emptied accessible shallows in parts of its range; here it is still where it should be, in the top few metres of sheltered rubble.
- small carpet, rarely over 8 cm across
- concentric rings of colour on the disc, often green and purple
- very short tentacles giving a beaded texture
- in shallow rubble and pools rather than on reef
