Biodiversity & Conservation

Sea beard - Nemertesia antennina

Nemertesia antennina

Image Keith Hiscock - Nemertesia antennina
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Distribution map

Nemertesia antennina 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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Nemertesia antennina is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Cnidaria Sea anemones, corals, sea firs & jellyfish
Class Hydroidomedusa
Authority (Linnaeus, 1758)
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Nemertesia antennina is widely distributed around the coasts of Britain and Ireland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Nemertesia antennina is found attached to shells and stones on sandy bottoms from the shallow sublittoral into deeper waters offshore.
Text page icon Description Nemertesia antennina is a colonial hydroid. The colony consists of up to 50 thick, stiff, erect, stems which can be up to 25 cm tall. The stems grow from a fibrous mass of rootlets. The stems bear bundles of 6-10 whorled side branches, these are incurved and widest at their bases. Nemertesia antennina is orange-buff in colour.
Identifying features
  • Colonial hydroid.
  • Up to 50 thick, stiff, erect, stems up to 25 cm tall.
  • Stems grow from fibrous mass of rootlets.
  • Stems bear bundle of 6-10 whorled side branches.
  • Colony is orange-buff in colour.
Additional information icon Additional information

This review can be cited as follows:

Olwen Ager 2008. Nemertesia antennina. Sea beard. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 19/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3863>