The Beadlet Anemone is a small sea creature that is bright red and covered with lots of stinging tentacles.  It can be found all around the shores of England in rock pools and in the shallower parts of the sea where it clings onto rocks and hard shells.

The Beadlet Anemone is around five centimetres in length and can be a green or an orange colour.  It has around two hundred tentacles and at the base of them there is a ring of bright blue spots that look like beads.  This is why this anenome has the name the  ‘Beadlet Anemone’.  It opens its tentacles when it wants to feed because it uses them to sting its prey.  The sting is not harmful to humans and it doesn’t hurt.    When this anemone is exposed to air, it closes its tentacles to protect and hide them.  It also closes its tentacles when it feels threatened.

Beadlet Anemones inflate their bodies when they want to release themselves from rocks.   Once they are flowing freely in the sea they allow themselves to be carried away by waves and currents to a new location.  Beadlet Anemones also move so slowly that it is almost impossible to see with the naked eye.