Sea-Anemone

a marine animal allied to the corals. The common sea-anemone is a hollow cylinder attached by one end to the bottom of the sea, while the other is surrounded by a forest of outward-bending, plume-like, richly-colored filaments. In the center is a mouth into which it is the business of the filaments or tentacles to drag small fishes or marine insects. Looking down into the sea one can hardly believe that he is not looking at upturned sunflowers, anemones, chrysanthemums, and other flowers. If the animal be disturbed, the stem shortens down to the point of attachment, the tentacles are drawn within and protected by a circular, dingy muscle that closes over them, like the mouth of a handbag, leaving scarcely an aperture at the center. When all is quiet, the stemelongates, the cover relaxes, the tentacles steal out, and the sea-anemone is in bloom again. If food becomes scarce most sea-anemones have the power to detach themselves and to locate elsewhere.