Transparent tentacles carrying spiral rings of white stinging cells, in a hole in rubble. It is the host of the Pederson cleaner shrimp and of arrow crabs.
To about 15 cm, with long transparent tentacles carrying spiral rings of white stinging cells that give it the name and are visible at close range. It lives with its base in a hole in rubble and withdraws into it when disturbed.
It is one of the most productive things to search on a Caribbean reef: it is the usual host of the Pederson cleaner shrimp, it holds arrow crabs, and fish queue at it to be cleaned. It also stings on contact, and the white rings are the batteries of stinging cells rather than decoration. Photograph the shrimp, not the anemone, and keep the port off the tentacles.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
