Brown sea anemone

Metridium senile

Corals and anemones
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth5–33 m
Water temperature5–28 °C
Best monthsJune, July, and August
How commonCommon

Photo credit: (c) Nathan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Metridium senile, the Plumose, Fluffy, or Frilled anemone, is a species of sea anemone in the family Metridiidae. As a member of the genus Metridium, it is a type of plumose anemone and is found in the seas off north-western Europe and both the east and west coasts of North America.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Metridium senile”, 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: 475 records
February: 420 records
March: 654 records
April: 932 records
May: 1,477 records
June: 2,138 records
July: 2,768 records
August: 2,868 records
September: 2,089 records
October: 1,035 records
November: 454 records
December: 282 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–33 m · Deepest record: 2,100 m

0–10 m: 2,352 records
10–20 m: 2,929 records
20–30 m: 1,931 records
30–40 m: 526 records
40–50 m: 141 records
50–60 m: 89 records
60–70 m: 37 records
70–80 m: 44 records
80–90 m: 50 records
90–100 m: 68 records
100–110 m: 25 records
110+ m: 38 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 5–28 °C

4–6 °C: 4 records
6–8 °C: 6 records
8–10 °C: 65 records
10–12 °C: 465 records
12–14 °C: 162 records
14–16 °C: 4 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 2 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 0 records
26–28 °C: 5 records
28–30 °C: 1 records

Photos

(c) Corvi Zeman, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Roger Rittmaster, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Thomas Irvine, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Klaus Kevin Kristensen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Vsevolod Rudyi, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Brown sea anemone, Clonal plumose anemone, Cloned plumose anemone, Frilled anemone, Frilled sea anemone, Plumose anemone, brown sea anemone, clonal plumose anemone, Clonal Plumose Anemone, cloned plumose anemone, frilled anemone, frilled sea anemone, plumose anemone, plumose sea anemone

Names in 3 more languages

German: Seenelke
French: actinie plumeuse, anémone plumeuse, oeillet de mer
Japanese: ヒダベリイソギンチャク

Other scientific names: Actinea dianthus, Actinia (Diplostephanus) candida, Actinia (Ectacmaea) candida, Actinia (Entacmaea) rufa, Actinia (Hexastephanus) cereus, Actinia candida, Actinia cereus, Actinia pallida, Actinia pellucida, Actinia rufa, Actinia senilis, Actinoloba dianthus, Actinoloba marginata, Actinothoe pallida, Anthea plumosa, Metridium fimbriatum, Metridium huanghaiense, Metridium huanghaiensis, Metridium pallidum, Metridium senilis, Metridium sinensis, Paraisometridium pehuense, Paraisometridium pehuensis, Priapus senilis, Sagartia pallida, Sagartia pura, Thoe pura

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).
11,982 open-data records from 1761 to 2025.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.

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