Coe. 28 / Coe. 29 Stoichactis gigantis

            Kingdom         - Animalia

            Phylum            - Cnidaria

            Class                - Anthozoa

            Subclass           - Hexacorallia

            Order               - Actiniaria 

            Family             - Stichodactylidae

            Genus              - Stichodactyla

            Species             - Stichodactyla gigantea

(Accepted name - Stichodactyla gigantea)

Characters:

            Deeply-folded oral disc (more pronounced with size), covered with short (average 10 mm), slightly tapering tentacles that typically all vibrate constantly. Tentacles extremely sticky in life, adhering to collector's hand, and pulling off in clumps; but do not cause stinging sensation. Typically, in such shallow water that animals may be exposed at low tide.

            Can be found at different water depths; in deep water (drop offs, reef slopes) it is usually found in its Solitary Form (see size). In shallower water and around corals, animals live intensively together forming 'fields' or 'mounds' which appear to be one huge anemone, but are in fact many hundreds of smaller ones, each with their own dominant pair of Anemonefish.

Colour: 

            Non-adhesive verrucae on upper column blue to maroon, contrasting with yellowish, pinkish, tan, greenish-blue, or gray-green column. Basal portion of each tentacle colour of the oral disc (often tan or pink); colour of bluntly pointed distal part -- which is what is generally noted as tentacle colour -- commonly brown or greenish, rarely a striking purple or pink, deep blue, or bright green.