Biodiversity & Conservation

Starlet sea anemone - Nematostella vectensis - General information

Nematostella vectensis

Image Dennis R. Seaward - Nematostella vectensis, one individual removed from the substratum. Image width ca 3 cm
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Distribution map

Nematostella vectensis recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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  • WC_Act_1981
  • UK_BAP

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Charlotte Marshall and Angus Jackson Text page icon Refereed by: Dr Simon Davy & Dr Martin Sheader

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Cnidaria Sea anemones, corals, sea firs & jellyfish
Class Hexacorallia
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland Found on north coast of Norfolk, the east coast of Suffolk, the Blackwater Estuary and Hamford Water in Essex, the Hampshire coast and on the south coast of Dorset.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Lives in isolated or semi-isolated brackish lagoons at or above high water, typically in mud, muddy sand and muddy shingle (M. Sheader, pers. comm.) but is also found on vegetation.
Text page icon Description A tiny anemone, with the column rarely more than 15 mm in length. Translucent and colourless in appearance except for variable patterns of opaque white on the column and disk. Tentacles large in proportion to body, colourless and translucent with pale tips and with faint transverse bars and irregular flecks of white. The tentacles (9 - 18) are very strongly adhesive.

This review can be cited as follows:

Charlotte Marshall and Angus Jackson 2007. Nematostella vectensis. Starlet sea anemone. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 22/05/2012]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=3860>