What are sea anemones?
Sea anemones are to Phylum Cnidaria, which includes jellyfishes and corals. Sea anemones belong to the Class Anthozoa that includes Peacock anemones and hard corals. There are about 1,350 known species of sea anemones. They are found from deep to shallow waters, attached to hard surfaces or burrowing into the ground. Features: Most are small, from 1.5-10cm long and 1-5cm in diameter. But some can be 50cm in diameter or more! Unlike hard corals which are colonies of small polyps connected to one another that produce a hard skeleton, sea anemones are larger solitary polyps that don’t produce a hard skeleton. Like jellyfish and other cnidarians, sea anemones have tentacles with stingers. What we first notice of the sea anemone is a broad, flat disk. This is called the oral disk because that is where the mouth is, at the centre of disk. The mouth is usually a slit. Sea anemones don’t have teeth. The upper side of the oral disk is usually covered with lots of hollow tentacles. The tentacles
