Scarlet Sea Anemone

Stomphia coccinea is a solitary, soft-bodied anthozoan notable for its striking red to orange coloration and its unusual capacity for locomotion. Unlike most sea anemones, which remain fixed to a substrate for life, this species can detach its pedal disc and swim in a rhythmic, twisting motion when threatened, particularly in response to contact with certain predatory sea stars. It typically attaches to rocks, shells, or other hard surfaces on the seafloor, where it uses its ring of tentacles to capture small invertebrates and drifting prey, playing a role as both predator and prey within benthic marine food webs and offering microhabitat structure for small associated organisms.

The species has a wide circumpolar and temperate distribution, occurring in cold, marine waters across the North Atlantic and North Pacific, including the coasts of Canada, the United States, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Svalbard, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and several European nations, with additional records extending to Australia and Mexico. It inhabits subtidal and deeper marine benthic zones.

No population figures are available, and the population trend is currently unknown. The species is classified as Vulnerable, with threats including bottom trawling that physically destroys seafloor habitat, ocean acidification and warming that affect prey availability and current patterns, coastal pollution, and overfishing that depletes prey fish populations.

Targeted conservation measures specific to this species are not well documented, though it may benefit indirectly from broader marine protected areas, fisheries regulations, and international efforts to curb ocean acidification and pollution. Given the combination of ongoing, compounding threats and the absence of clear population data, its long-term outlook remains uncertain.

Swimming Anemones inhabit rocky substrates and hard surfaces in cold North Atlantic waters, typically at depths of 10-200 meters. They attach to rocks, shells, and other sessile organisms in areas with strong currents that provide abundant planktonic food sources.