Adhesive sea anemone

About this species

Cryptodendrum is a genus of sea anemones in the family Thalassianthidae. It is monotypic with a single species, Cryptodendrum adhaesivum, also commonly known as the adhesive anemone, pizza anemone, and nap-edged anemone. Like all symbiotic anemones it hosts zooxanthellae, symbiotic algae that help feed their host.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Cryptodendrum”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 30 records
February: 15 records
March: 22 records
April: 28 records
May: 30 records
June: 38 records
July: 33 records
August: 20 records
September: 32 records
October: 24 records
November: 29 records
December: 29 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–15 m · Deepest record: 49 m

0–10 m: 19 records
10–20 m: 16 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 21–30 °C

20–22 °C: 2 records
22–24 °C: 6 records
24–26 °C: 8 records
26–28 °C: 16 records
28–30 °C: 60 records

Photos

(c) Ahmed Abdul Rahman, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Debra Baker · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Grete Pasch, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tom Heijnen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Grete Pasch, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) luluchouette, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) ajott, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Adhesive sea anemone, Nap-edged anemone, Pizza anemone, Adhesive Anemone, adhesive sea anemone, nap-edged anemone, pizza anemone, Pizza sea anemone, Adhesive sea anemone, Bulged sticky anemone, Nap-edged anemone

Names in 2 more languages

German: Noppenrandanemone, Noppenrand-Anemone, Noppenrand-Meerblume, Pizza-Anemone
French: Anémone adhésive, Anémone adhésive, Anémone pizza, Anémone collante, Anémone-tapis à bordure nappée

Other scientific names: Cryptodendron adhaesivium, Cryptodendron adhaesivum, Cryptodendrum adhesivum, Stoichactis digitata

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
206 open-data records from 1964 to 2010.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.