(photos of Dirk Schories: specimens from Chile, SE Pacific)
Cereus herpetodes is unique colonial sea anemone, all other species of the order Actiniaria are solitary. It forms flat colonies, with pedal disk and short column buried in sand and only oral disks with numerous short tentacles and several mouths are visible on the surface. The species is known from Chile and Peru. Cereus pedunculatus is a related European species.
Taxonomy:
Phylum Cnidaria
Class Anthozoa
Order Actiniaria
