Painted Anemone

Urticina crassicornis

Painted Anemone

Urticina crassicornis

Other Common Names
Christman anemone, mottled anemone

Rocky Coast

Other Common Names

Christman anemone, mottled anemone

At the Aquarium

Rocky Coast

Appearance

The pedal disk is always wider than the column is tall. The column has large, irregular patches of red and green or yellow, and has many non-sticky vesicles that are noticeable when the anemone closes up. The oral disc is brown, yellow-green, or a pale lilac color with up to 200 red-banded tentacles no longer than 2 inches each.

Habitat

Intertidal and subtidal to depths of 125 inches, attached to large boulders or rock

Diet

Crabs, shrimp, krill, mussels, chitons, barnacles, and fish

Life History

Painted anemones reproduce by broadcast spawning. The eggs are covered in short spines. The planula is the larval form and it will seek out a rock or other hard surface to attach to and grow into a polyp. By 2 months old, the anemone is 0.03 inches across the oral disk and has 12 tentacles measuring 0.04 inches in length. By 1 year of age, the anemone is 0.4 inches across the oral disk and it has 30-35 tentacles that average 0.3 inches in length.

IUCN Status

Not Evaluated

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

The candy-striped shrimp is immune to the sting and is often seen nearby. Painted anemones are eaten by nudibranchs, sea stars, and snails.

Pacific Ocean: Alaska to southern California

You might encounter one of these anemones while tidepooling.

Though this anemone can be found in the intertidal, it does tend to inhabit darker spaces than other anemones which have photosynthetic symbionts living within their tissues. Since the painted anemone lacks such symbionts, it can avoid competing for well-lit spaces.

Citations & Other Resources

Actiniaria website
Chia FS, Spaulding J. 1972. Development and juvenile growth of the sea anemone, Tealia crassicornis. Biological Bulletin 142:206–218. Accessed 10/24 at: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/partpdf/6990
Sanamyan, N. P., and K. E. Sanamyan. inchesThe genera Urticina and Cribrinopsis (Anthozoa: Actiniaria) from the north‐western Pacific.inches Journal of Natural History 40.7-8 (2006): 359-393.
Vancouver Island University website
VicHighMarine website
Wells, Christopher David. Biology and ecology of hexacorallians in the San Juan archipelago. Diss. 2019.

Painted Anemone

Painted Anemone

Other Common Names

At the Aquarium

Appearance

Habitat

Diet

Life History

IUCN Status

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

Citations & Other Resources

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