Cereus pedunculatus or the daisy anemone is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of sea anemone

Sea anemone

Sea anemones are a group of water-dwelling, predatory animals of the order Actiniaria; they are named after the anemone, a terrestrial flower. Sea anemones are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Zoantharia. Anthozoa often have large polyps that allow for digestion of larger...

 in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Sagartiidae

Sagartiidae

Sagartiidae is a family of sea anemones.-Genera:Genera in the family include:* Actinothoe Fischer, 1889* Anthothoe* Bellactis* Botryon* Carcinactis* Cereus Oken, 1815* Choriactis* Gregoria* Habrosanthus...

. It is found in shallow parts of the northeast Atlantic Ocean and in the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It is an omnivore

Omnivore

Omnivores are species that eat both plants and animals as their primary food source...

, predator

Predation

In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey . Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of its prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption...

 and scavenger

Scavenger

Scavenging is both a carnivorous and herbivorous feeding behavior in which individual scavengers search out dead animal and dead plant biomass on which to feed. The eating of carrion from the same species is referred to as cannibalism. Scavengers play an important role in the ecosystem by...

.

Description

C. pedunculatus has a base that is sometimes frilled at the edge. It is wider than the trunk which is covered with small dots and can be cream, pink, brown or violet. The trunk may be stalk-like and up to ten centimetres tall, or shaped more like a trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

. Both these forms can retract back into a squat, tentacle-fringed mound. The oral disc may be seven centimetres wide or even wider. There are more than 500 short, flaccid tentacle

Tentacle

A tentacle or bothrium is one of usually two or more elongated flexible organs present in animals, especially invertebrates. The term may also refer to the hairs of the leaves of some insectivorous plants. Usually, tentacles are used for feeding, feeling and grasping. Anatomically, they work like...

s which may be a plain colour, banded or speckled.

Distribution and habitat

C. pedunculatus is found in the northeast Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 south to the Azores

Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

, in the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 and the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

  at depths down to 50 metres. It is common round the southern and western coasts of the British Isles. It may grow in rock pools

Tide pool

Tide pools are rocky pools by oceans that are filled with seawater. Many of these pools exist as separate entities only at low tide.Tide pools are habitats of uniquely adaptable animals that have engaged the special attention of naturalists and marine biologists, as well as philosophical...

, often with the base and column concealed in a crevice, or it may be found in muddy gravel where it is anchored to a stone or other sub-surface object. In this case, the tentacles are the only part that project and the whole animal can be withdrawn into the substrate if danger threatens.