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Sea-fan anemone
Amphianthus dohrnii
Sea-fan anemone © Paul Kay
The sea-fan anemone does not usually attach directly to the seabed. It lives instead with its base wrapped around a pink sea-fan or, occasionally, on sea firs and sponges or anything with similar tube-like branches. It is found in rocky seascapes, from depths of about 10m down to 1000m.
This body of this tiny anemone is only about 1cm in diameter, and is fringed by about 80 short tentacles. It is buff, pink, orange or red in colour, usually streaked or splashed with white. The individual animals may be small, but they can group together in large, closely-packed colonies.
These anemones, and the sea-fans to which they attach, are near the northern limits of their geographical distribution in the UK. Natural changes in ocean currents and temperatures can affect their survival in these waters. Human impacts on sea-fan anemones might include damage to the sea-fans by fishing activities and also pollution.
They are found only in a few locations in south-west England, and anecdotal historical records suggest that sea fan anemones were much more common in the early twentieth century than they are now. This problem of declining numbers appears to be affecting sea fan anemone populations throughout Europe
Brief description of European distribution
In the UK, records of the sea-fan anemone are restricted to south-west England and western Scotland, where it attaches to the northern sea-fan. It also occurs in south-west Europe and the Mediterranean, although recently the anemone appears to have become rare over its entire range
Conservation status / need
UKBAP Priority Species
Nationally scarce marine species
In England, it is a species of principal importance for the purpose of conservation of biodiversity under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006
The pink sea-fan, its main host, is protected under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Further information sources
UK Biodiversity Action Plan website
British Marine Life Study Society website
Marine life information network
World register of marine species (WoRMS)
Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland
Interesting fact
A sea-fan anemone has an unusual method of reproduction: it creeps along a rock leaving behind a trail of fragments from the base of its body, which grow into new anemones.
