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Giant Green Sea Anemones

Giant Green Sea Anemones line art illustration (click image to enlarge)

Giant Green Sea Anemones full color illustration (click image to enlarge)

Artist's notes:

Just a few weeks back, I created a drawing of some Ochre Sea Stars after a customer suggested I should. Afterwards, I thought a series of drawing of the animals of the tide pools might be in order, and any collection like this would be lacking without one of the best known inhabitant - the anemone. The drawing turned out to be much more challenging that I thought it would be. But I think I captured the image pretty well. The drawing is based on a photo by SJ Charlene.

Information about the Giant Green Sea Anemones:

Giant Green Sea Anemones are members of the Actiniidae family. As their name makes clear, are very large and green color (although there are some color variations that can include yellow, orange and light purple. It is the largest anemone found along the Pacific Coast, from Alaska all the way down to Baja, Mexico. These animals use their long tentacles to snag potential prey as they pass. The tentacles sting then paralyze the animal. While the stings (whish are harpoon-like and called nematocysts) are deadly to small animals, they are harmless to humans, and produce a small tingling feeling. While they are sometimes mistaken for plant life, they are animals and voracious predators, feeding on fish, shrimp, isopods, amphipods even larger crustaceans like crabs. Green Sea Anemones are capable of devouring a giant crab, and spitting out the shell in only 15 minutes.