Biodiversity & Conservation

A sea anemone - Sagartiogeton undatus

Sagartiogeton undatus

Image Keith Hiscock - Aquarium photograph of individual from Firestone Bay, Plymouth Sound. Image width ca 5 cm.
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Distribution map

Sagartiogeton undatus 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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Sagartiogeton undatus is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Cnidaria Sea anemones, corals, sea firs & jellyfish
Class Hexacorallia
Authority O. F. Müller, 1788
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Present on all British and Irish coats.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Typically found buried in sand or gravel, attached to a stone or shell 10-15 cm into the sediment or in crevices or holes in rocks. Found on the lower shore and sublittoral to a depth of at least 100 m.
Text page icon Description A graceful sea anemone with long tentacles arranged in multiples of six. It grows up to 12 cm tall and 6 cm across the base which is strongly adherent. The disc and tentacles are translucent pale greyish in colour, while the disc is variegated with cream, and with a regular but not striking pattern. The tentacles have lateral dark lines down their length. The column is tall in extension with no suckers and pale yellowish buff in colour, with regular vertical stripes of brown flecks of variable intensity.
Identifying features
  • Column at full extension up to 12 cm high and 2 cm diameter.
  • Oral disc wider than column, with an unusually wide mouth.
  • Tentacles up to 200, long, slender, arranged hexamerously.
  • No suckers.
  • Striped pattern on column is consistent and distinctive.
Additional information icon Additional information Sagartiogeton undatus is often found in the company of Sagartia troglodytes or Cereus pedunculatus, where these occur buried, and in the past has been confused with both these species although easily distinguished from them by its lack of suckers. Philip Henry Gosse christened this species the Snakelocks, but this name proved popular with the more common species Anemonia viridis.

This review can be cited as follows:

Emily Wilson 2007. Sagartiogeton undatus. A sea anemone. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 22/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=4289>