Green anemone, Anemonia viridis, from the Mediterranean Sea. Picture was taken at Filfa in Malta.

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This cnidarian species can be found in shallow waters and intertidal pools in the Mediterranean Sea and along the Eastern Atlantic coasts. As most other cnidarians they contain small single cell algae within their tissue that produce sugar through photosynthesis ergo depend on sunlight. They anemones are sessile, which means they attach themselves to the bottom and do not move. They grow up to 20 cm in width and 8 cm in height. Their tentacles are used to filter the water for zooplankton. The tentacles contain small poison-filled capsules, called cnidocytes, to paralyze their prey and serve as defense mechanism against potential predators. The green color of the tentacles derives from the zooxanthallae.

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Size: 3028px × 2875px
Location: Filfla, Malta
Photo credit: © Rasmus Loeth Petersen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: actinaria, actiniidae, algae, anemone, anemonia, animalia, anthozoa, area, black, blue, cells, cnidaria, cnidocyte, dive, diving, feeder, filfa, filtrating, frame, green, invertebrate, light, malta, marine, mediterranean, mouth, mpa, opening, plankton, poisonous, protected, scuba, sea, snakelock, spot, stinger, stinging, symbiosis, tentacle, tube, underwater, viridis, yellow, zooxanthallae