Gem Anemone (Bunodactis verrucosa )

Also known as the Wartlet Anemone. The tentacles are typically striped or banded. When disturbed they contract into very tight, small warty blobs 1 to 2 centimetres across. The image above is of a small group (probably genetically the same as they could be clones of the parent) in a tiny rockpool. The bottom of the pool is a deep crevice and so their bodies are anchored in there with the tentacles opened up near the surface of the water. The pale area around them is encrusting red algae, like Lithothamnion.

They are typically found in exposed rocky shores, in small rockpools on the middle and lower shore. Common in the south and west of UK which is near the northern limit to the species range.