Gullmarsfjorden, West Coast of Sweden
One might not think so, but there is a great variety of fascinating life living on muddy bottoms. Benthic fauna live on the sea floor and play a crucial roll in the marine ecosystems.
These, often unique, and distinctive communities are threatened by human impact such as trawling, dredging and seabed mining…
This is a fireworks anemone (Pachycerianthus multiplicatus), a species of tube anemone occupying a, up to one meter, tube-like burrow that extends through the mud, making it stable and stationary.
With its up to 200 tentacles, which are up to 30 centimeters long, it is thought to feed on plankton such as the arrow worms Sagitta.
This anemone was photographed in Gullmarsfjorden, at the Swedish west coast. In addition to Scandinavia, they are also registered on the Brittish Isles and in the middle of the North sea.
Normally found deeper than 20 meters and recorded down to 130 meters, this is a hidden beauty living in silence and darkness...
... one of the many victims in the destructive bottom trawling, which damage entire habitats on the seafloor.
