Anemonia viridis (Forsskål, 1775)

Identifying features

• Base lightly but closely adherent, broader than column.
• Column smooth, disk wide, tentacles long, fairly stout and flexuous – up to about 200.
• Up to 70 mm across the base with a 180 mm tentacle span.
• The column is reddish or greyish brown, the disk brown or greyish with white radial lines, tentacles grey-brown or bright green with purple tips.
• Pale individuals may occur where there is little or no light (for instance when removed to an aquarium).
• Tentacles rarely withdrawn but are capable of withdrawing fully into the column.

Conservation Status

Synonyms

Actinia viridis Gmelin
Anemonia sulcata var. viridis Andres, 1881
Priapus viridis Forsskål, 1775

International References

Hiscock, K. 2008. Anemonia viridis Snakelocks anemone. In Tyler-Walters H. and Hiscock K. (eds) Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Reviews, [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Available from: http://www.marlin.ac.uk/species/detail/1415

additional source Hayward, P.J.; Ryland, J.S. (Ed.). (1990). The marine fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe: 1. Introduction and protozoans to arthropods. Clarendon Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 0-19-857356-1. 627 pp. [details]

additional source Fautin, Daphne G. (2013). Hexacorallians of the World., available online at http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/Hexacoral/Anemone2/ [details]

basis of record van der Land, J.; den Hartog, J.H. (2001). Actiniaria, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 106-109 [details]

additional source Muller, Y. (2004). Faune et flore du littoral du Nord, du Pas-de-Calais et de la Belgique: inventaire. [Coastal fauna and flora of the Nord, Pas-de-Calais and Belgium: inventory]. Commission Régionale de Biologie Région Nord Pas-de-Calais: France. 307 pp., available online at http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/145561.pdf [details]

original description Forskål, P.; Niebuhr, C. (1775). Descriptiones animalium, avium, amphibiorum, piscium, insectorum, vermium / quae in itinere orientali observavit Petrus Forskål. Post mortem auctoris edidit Carsten Niebuhr. Adjuncta est materia medica kahirina atque tabula maris Rubri geographica. Hauniæ [Copenhagen]:ex officina Mölleri.[alternative spelling Forsskål is also correct]. , available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.2154 [details]

additional source Fautin, Daphne G. (2013). Hexacorallians of the World. , available online at https://web.archive.org/web/20191018194704/http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/Hexacoral/Anemone2/ [details]

additional source Manuel, R. L. (1981). British Anthozoa. London: Academic Press. 241 pp. (Synopses of the British Fauna). [details]

additional source Haylor, G. S.; Thorpe, J. P.; Carter, M. A. (1984). Genetic and ecological differentiation between sympatric colour morphs of the common intertidal sea anemone Actinia equina. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 16, 281-289 [details]

additional source Doumenc, D. A.; Koukouras, A. (1985). Actinies de la mer Égée: méthodes d’identification, zoogéographie. Bulletin du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris), 7A, 4, (3): 497-529 [details]

additional source Allcock, L. A.; Watts, P. C.; Thorpe, J. P. (1998). Divergence of nematocysts in two colour morphs of the intertidal beadlet anemone Actinia equina. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 78, 821-828 [details]

additional source Excoffon, A. C.; Genzano, G. N.; Zamponi, M. O. (1999). Macrobenthos associated with a population of Anthothoe chilensis (Lesson, 1830) (Cnidaria, Actiniaria) in Mar del Plata Harbor, Argentina. Ciencias Marinas, 25(2): 177-191 [details]

additional source Chintiroglou, C. C.; Doumenc, D. A.; Zamponi, M. O. (1997). Commented list of the Mediterranean Actiniaria and Corallimorpharia (Anthozoa). Acta Adriatica, 38(1): 65-70 [details]

additional source Loukmidou, S.; Chintiroglou, C. C.; Doumenc, D. A. (1997). Inventaire du cnidome des actiniaires et corallimorphaires de Mediterranee (Cnidaria, Anthozoa). Bios, 4, 63-114 [details]

additional source Karalis, P.; Chintiroglou, C. C. (1997). Biometric investigations on the cnidae of the rustica-color variety of the sea anemone Anemonia viridis (Förskal, 1775). Israel Journal of Zoology, 43, 385-390 [details]

additional source Ates, R. M. L. (1997). Bloemdieren: De Zeeanemonen En Hun Verwanten Van De Nederlandse Kust. C. Moerman. Zeeanjer., pp. 31. [details]

additional source Schlesinger, A.; Goldshmid, R.; Hadfield, M. G.; Kramarsky-Winter, E.; Loya, Y. (2009). Laboratory culture of the aeolid nudibranch Spurilla neapolitana (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia): life history aspects. Marine Biology, 156, 753-761 [details]

additional source Robson, E. A. (2004). Cnidogenesis in the jewel anemone Corynactis californica (Carlgren, 1936) and C. viridis (Allman, 1846) (Anthozoa: Corallimorpharia). Zoologische Mededelingen, Leiden, 78(27): 461-476 [details]

additional source Patzner, R. A. (2004). Associations with sea anemones in the Mediterranean Sea: a review. Ophelia, 58(1): 1-11 [details]

additional source Moran, Y.; Gurevitz, M. (2006). When positive selection of neurotoxin genes is missing: the riddle of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. FEBS Journal, 273(17): 3886-3892 [details]

additional source Merle, P.; Sabourault, C.; Richier, S.; Allemand, D.; Furla, P. (2007). Catalase characterization and implication in bleaching of a symbiotic sea anemone. Free Radical Biology & Medicine, 42, 236-246 [details]

additional source Arvedlund, M.; Iwao, K.; Brolund, T. M.; Takemura, A. (2006). Juvenile Thalassoma amblycephalum Bleeker (Labridae, Teleostei) dwelling among the tentacles of sea anemones: a cleanerfish with an unusual talent?. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 329, 161-173 [details]

additional source Daly, M.; Chaudhuri, A.; Gusmão, L.; Rodríguez, E. (2008). Phylogenetic relationships among sea anemones (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Actiniaria). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 48, 292-301 [details]

additional source Sunagawa, S.; Choi, J.; Forman, H. J.; Medina, M. (2008). Hyperthermic stress-induced increase in the expression of glutamate-cysteine ligase and glutathione levels in the symbiotic sea anemone Aiptasia pallida. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part B, 151, 133-138 [details]

additional source Braga Gomes, P.; Zamponi, M. O.; Solé-Cava, A. M. (2003). Asexual reproduction and molecular systematics of the sea anemone Anthopleura krebsi (Actiniaria: Actiniidae). Revista de Biologia Tropical, 51, 1, 147-154 [details]

additional source Daly, M.; Gusmão, L.; Reft, A. J.; Rodríguez, E. (2010). Phylogenetic signal in mitochondrial and nuclear markers in sea anemones (Cnidaria, Actiniaria). Integrative and Comparative Biology, 50(3): 371-388 [details]

additional source Wittman, K. J. (2008). Two new species of Heteromysini (Mysida, Mysidae) from the island of Madeira (N.E. Atlantic), with notes on sea anemone and hermit crab commensalisms in the genus Heteromysis S. I. Smith, 1873. Crustaceana, 81(3): 351-374 [details]

additional source Rorandelli, R.; Bartolini, F.; Gomei, M.; Cannicci, S. (2007). Observations in captivity of the activity patterns and resources utilization of the spider crab Inachus phalangium (Decapoda, Majidae). Marine Biology, 151, 1111-1116 [details]

additional source Moran, Y.; Kahn, R.; Cohen, L.; Gur, M.; Karbat, I.; Gordon, D.; Gurevitz, M. (2007). Molecular analysis of the sea anemone toxin Av3 reveals selectivity to insects and demonstrates the heterogeneity of receptor site-3 on voltage-gated Na+ channels. Biochemical Journal, 406, 41-48 [details]

additional source Ramil Blanco, F.; Pulpeiro, E. F. (1990). Inventario de los antozoos de Galicia. A checklist of the Anthozoa from Galicia. Boletin de la Real Sociedad Española de Historia Natural, 86(1-4): 17-30 [details]

additional source Choresh, O.; Azem, A.; Loya, Y. (2007). Over-expression of highly conserved mitochondrial 70-kDa heat-shock protein in the sea anemone Anemonia viridis. Journal of Thermal Biology, 32, 367-373 [details]

additional source Guinot, D.; Doumenc, D. A.; Chintiroglou, C. C. (1995). A review of the carrying behaviour in brachyuran crabs, with additional information on the symbioses with sea anemones. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 43(2): 377-416 [details]

additional source Hayward, P.J. & J.S. Ryland (Eds.). (1990). The marine fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe: 1. Introduction and protozoans to arthropods. Clarendon Press: Oxford, UK. 627 pp. [details]