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Magnificent Sea Anemone | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

Magnificent Sea Anemone

Heteractis magnifica

AnthozoaExposed reef slopes and shallow current-swept reef in the Indo-Pacific

Field profile

Heteractis magnifica is one of the largest host anemones, with an oral disc that can reach roughly a metre and long tentacles with swollen tips. Its column is often a vivid blue, red or purple. It hosts several species of anemonefish.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2024-03-12

Magnificent Sea Anemone

Clownfish protection is chemistry, not immunity

An anemonefish is not born immune to its host. It acclimates over hours or days, contacting the tentacles in short bouts, and ends up wearing a mucus coat the anemone's stinging cells no longer read as prey.

Read with evidence →