Marshall Islands Sea Anemones and their relatives

This page links to photos of sea anemones and their relatives from Kwajalein. Animals that resemble anemones are in fact not always too closely related and are distributed across several orders in the phylum Cnideria. Many of our species are only tentatively identified to genus or species. Coloration within many species is highly variable. If attempting to match species using these thumbnails, find similarities in shape, then follow the link to additional photos of that species, which will show some of the color variations. Sizes given are very rough estimates of what we typically saw, and these soft bodied animals could often expand or shrink considerably.

Actinaria (anemones)


Actinodendron alcyonoideum

Actinodendron arboreum

Actinoporus elongatus

Actinostephanus haeckeli

Alicia pretiosa

Boloceroides mcmurrichi

Boloceroides sp. 1

Boloceroides sp. 2

Boloceroides sp. 3

Boloceroides sp. 4

Bunodeopsis medusoides

Bunodeopsis medusoides

Bunodeopsis sp. 1

Calliactis polypus

Cryptodendrum adhaesivum

Dofleinia armata

Edwardsianthus pudicus

Edwardsia mammillata

Entacmaea quadricolor

Exaiptasia diaphana

Heteractis aurora

Heteractis crispa

Heteractis magnifica

Heteranthus verruculatus

Heteranthus verruculatus

Heterodactyla hemprichii

Macrodactyla doreensis

Megalactis hemprichii

Nemanthus nitidus

Phyllodiscus semoni

Phymanthus loligo

Phymanthus loligo

Sagartiomorphe carlgreni

Stichodactyla haddoni

Stichodactyla mertensii

Stichodactyla tapetum

Telmatactis decora

Triactis producta

Anemone? sp. 7

Corallimorpharia (corallimorphs)


Amplexidiscus fenestrafer


Discosoma dawydoffi


Discosoma nummiforme

Discosoma nummiforme

Discosoma nummiforme

Pseudocorynactis tuberculata

Pseudocorynactis? sp. 2

Rhodactis bryoides

Rhodactis cf bryoides

Rhodactis inchoata

Rhodactis rhodostoma

Rhodactis sp. 1

Penicillaria (tube anemones)


Arachnanthus sp. 1

Isarachnanthus bandanensis

Isarachnanthus sp. 1

Anemone sp. 6

Zoantharia

Most of the zoanthid identifications are tentative. Species coloration seems to vary considerably and there are few references available.


Antipathozoanthus remengesaui

Bergia sp. 1

Isaurus tuberculatus

Palythoa heliodiscus

Palythoa mizigama

Palythoa mutuki

Palythoa toxica

Palythoa tuberculosa

Palythoa sp. 1

Palythoa sp. 2

Palythoa sp. 3

Palythoa sp. 4

Palythoa sp. 5

Parazoanthidae sp. 1

Zoanthus sansibaricus

Zoanthus kuroshio

Zoanthus sansibaricus

Zoanthus sansibaricus

Zoanthus sansibaricus

Zoanthus sansibaricus

Umimayanthus chanpuru

Zoanthid sp. 12

Many thanks to Joe Rowlett for his helpful comments on the identification of several of these species. However, I did identify quite a few myself, so any errors are certain to be mine.

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