Strawberry anemone
Encyclopedia
The Strawberry anemone (Actinia fragacea) is an Anthozoan
Anthozoa
Anthozoa is a class within the phylum Cnidaria that contains the sea anemones and corals. Unlike other cnidarians, anthozoans do not have a medusa stage in their development. Instead, they release sperm and eggs that form a planula, which attaches to some substrate on which the cnidarian grows...

 that appears to be confined to the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

 and south-west England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 where it is generally found on rocks of the lower shoreline. It has a column which is typically red or dark red, with spots of green, yellow or blue. The tentacles are usually red or purplish. Actinia fragacea is similar in form to the Beadlet anemone
Beadlet anemone
The beadlet anemone, Actinia equina, is a common sea anemone found on rocky shores around all coasts of the United Kingdom. Its range extends to the rest of Western Europe and the Mediterranean, and probably as far as the coast of West Africa....

 (Actinia equina) but is typically larger, measuring up to 100mm across the base.

A Californian species Corynactis californica
Corynactis californica
Corynactis californica is a bright red colonial anthozoan similar to sea anemones and scleractinian stony corals. Unlike the Atlantic true sea anemone, Actinia fragacea, that bears the same common name, strawberry anemone, this species is a colonial animal of the order Corallimorpharia...

shares the same common name, as does a southern African species, Corynactis annulata
Corynactis annulata
Corynactis annulata, the strawberry anemone, is a bright pink colonial anthozoan similar in body form to sea anemones and scleractinian stony corals. Unlike the true sea anemones, this species is a colonial animal of the order Corallimorpharia....

, and Urticina lofotensis
Urticina lofotensis
Urticina lofotensis is a species of sea anemone in the family Actiniidae. It is commonly known as the white-spotted rose anemone or strawberry anemone.-Taxonomy:...

, which is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific coast of North America

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