The bubble-tip anemone is a tropical sea anemone named for the swollen, bulb-like tips on its tentacles. It lives on Indo-Pacific coral reefs, where 14 kinds of clownfish—roughly half of all species—make it their home. It isn't native to US waters, but it's commonly kept in saltwater aquariums.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Up to about 1 ft (30 cm) across. Colors include green (the standard form), rose, orange, and red. The bubble tips are most typical of young, shallow-water anemones and can come and go with light, water flow, and whether fish are living in them.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Coral reefs
- Shallow tropical seas
- Range
- Tropical Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea across the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific, including Japan.
- Preferred conditions
- Small young anemones cluster in bright, shallow water; large adults with long, stringy tentacles tend to live alone in deeper, dimmer spots.
Behavior
- Diet
- Most of its energy comes from sunlight, via tiny algae living in its tissues. It also catches food with its tentacles and picks up scraps from its resident clownfish.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- Mostly reproduces by releasing eggs and sperm into the water; the swimming larvae can drift for up to 59 days before settling. Rarely, an anemone splits lengthwise into two.
Growing it
- Care
- Widely kept in saltwater aquariums. If the water gets too warm, the anemone loses its tiny algae and bleaches, and it can die in severe cases.
Name and classification
- About the name
- What looks like one species may be several. A 2024 study in Japan found four genetic lineages, and different clownfish species picked different ones.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
- Threats
- Warming seas can trigger bleaching, so climate change is a major threat.
More species to explore
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