Despite having grown up in the Puget Sound area, and visiting my share of touch tanks and aquariums, I had no idea that some local species of sea anemone could swim! It's been known for a long time, at least since the publication of this paper in 1955 in the journal Science. The authors accidentally discovered that the sea anemone Stomphia coccinea can detach itself from rocks and swim away when confronted with a starfish predator. And not only that, while swimming, the anemones look... pretty funny: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6lMD9h_ix4[/embed] "Swimming" Anemone from Puget Sound. "Extensive dredging operations have been carried out in recent years by the department of oceanography of the University of Washington in a study of the distribution and assemblage patterns of plants and animals in Puget Sound. While dredging was being carried out in an area north of Seattle, collections were made of several specimens of an anemone ...
Anemones can detach from rocks and swim, and it looks hilarious.
Discover how the sea anemone swimming mechanism helps Stomphia coccinea escape predators like starfish in Puget Sound.
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