''Alicia mirabilis'', commonly known as the berried anemone, is a species of

sea anemone Sea anemones ( ) are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates constituting the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemone ...

in the family ''

Aliciidae Aliciidae is a family of sea anemone Sea anemones ( ) are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates constituting the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a ...

.'' It changes shape as night falls expanding its column and tentacles to catch its food. It can be found in the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

, Portugal, Spain and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

Description

By day, ''Alicia mirabilis'' resembles a pile of berries, thus the common name berried anemone. By night, it expands its column to up to 40 cm tall and opens its tentacles. When fully extended, the tentacles may actually be longer than the column height. Both the tentacles and the "berries" contain stinging cells.

References

External links

Alicia mirabilis on www.itis.gov
* Aliciidae Animals described in 1861 Taxa named by James Yate Johnson Cnidarians of the Atlantic Ocean Fauna of the Mediterranean Sea {{Actiniaria-stub