Tube-dwelling Anemones - Arachnanthus lilith
Tube-dwelling Anemone - Arachnanthus lilith
Tube Anemone - Arachnanthus lilith
Arachnanthus lilith
Venomous© Rafi Amar
Invertebrate · Stinging · Tube-dwelling anemone

Lilith's Tube Anemone

Arachnanthus lilith Stampar & El Didi, 2018
up to 4 cm across3-30 mVenomous
1

A tube anemone whose crown rises from a soft tube buried in sediment, with two distinct rings of tentacles - long ones on the outside and a short inner circle around the mouth. The crown reaches about 4 cm (1.6 in) and the tentacles are translucent, often faintly banded.

Tube anemones are not true anemones at all, and the tube is the clearest sign: it is a felt of discharged stinging threads and mucus, built by the animal and extending well below the surface. The whole animal withdraws into it in an instant, which is what a diver usually sees. Feeding happens at night, on small animals caught by the outer tentacles and passed inward. The species was described only recently from this region, and the epithet takes the name of a figure from Mesopotamian and later Jewish folklore, in keeping with a group whose members are named for nocturnal things.

How to recognise it
  • two rings of tentacles emerging from a tube in the sediment
  • long outer tentacles, short inner ones around the mouth
  • translucent, often banded, tentacles
  • crown up to 4 cm across

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Last Update: August 9, 2026