Oil Slick Leap dive site.
For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of this beach, please see the journal entry for May 13, 2012 here on iNaturalist. These little anemones were in groups buried in the sand all over the beach. It was odd to me because I had only ever seen them living on rocks, not in the sand. A few of them, like the one in the second picture, had their tentacles out, which were light green with pink tips. Each anemone was about an inch across and the one in the picture was one of only a few that was on its own, the rest were in large groups. Occasionally, they would squirt water at me from surprisingly great distances.
Sea anemones are a group of water dwelling, predatory animals of the order Actiniaria; they are named after the anemone, a terrestrial flower. As cnidarians, sea anemones are closely related to corals, jellyfish, tube-dwelling anemones, and Hydra.
