Venus Flytrap Sea Anemone

Photo: I. MacDonald, D.L. Felder and D.K. Camp

That wonderful monster of the deep, dear Neatoramanauts, is the Venus flytrap sea anemone (Actinoscyphia sp.) from the Gulf of Mexico. Its name is derived from two land plants (the carnivorous venus fly trap and the flower anemone), but it's actually a type of polyp, related to corals and jellyfish.

The Venus flytrap sea anemone is part of undersea life that is threatened by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as the latest update of the Census of Marine Life revealed: Link

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How can you people be so ignorant to make the assumption that the population of these creatures will even be minutely affected when the ratio of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico by the Horizon tragedy is comparative to 1/8 of a teaspoon in a full size olympic swimming pool?

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this kind of creature is more frightening
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How ironic to think that this rare species would probably die off due to the oil, decompose . . . and turn (give or take a few million years) into crude petroleum, only to contribute to the source of the problem again in the (distant) future . . .

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What a gorgeous yet dangerous sea creature. I wonder how many of these are left in the world? With the current oils spill in the Gulf, some may have survived but with the effects, they could be wiped out.

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