Brooding anemone

About this species

Handactis nutrix, commonly known as the brooding or nurse anemone, is a species of sea anemone endemic to New Zealand. It is the only species in the genus Handactis.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Handactis”, 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: 20 records
February: 26 records
March: 11 records
April: 46 records
May: 28 records
June: 8 records
July: 18 records
August: 12 records
September: 7 records
October: 17 records
November: 6 records
December: 16 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–2 m · Deepest record: 1.5 m

0–10 m: 13 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 13–18 °C

12–14 °C: 9 records
14–16 °C: 7 records
16–18 °C: 7 records

Photos

(c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Tony Wills · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Tony Wills · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Javier, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Luca Davenport-Thomas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Michael Berardozzi, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Christopher Stephens, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Brooding anemone, Nurse anemone

Other scientific names: Cricophorus nutrix, Sagartia nutrix

Similar species

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).
79 open-data records from 1961 to 2008.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.