Alicia mirabilis
Spot the Barried Anemone along the Lisbon Coast and Costa Brava. Most sightings fall May, Sep in water from 14 to 28 °C. Here's where to find one.
Look for a tall, column-shaped anemone with a distinctly warty or bumpy outer surface and long, slender tentacles that extend noticeably further than most common Mediterranean anemones. The column is typically pale to brownish and semi-translucent, giving it an almost ghostly quality at depth. By day it may appear contracted and unremarkable against the rock, but at night the tentacles fan out widely, making it far more conspicuous. There are no obvious sex-related or juvenile colour differences documented that would help distinguish them underwater.
Barried Anemone tends to settle on rocky substrates, often in sheltered crevices or on vertical faces where there is some current to bring food particles within reach of its tentacles. It is most active and fully extended after dark, so a night dive gives you a far better look than a daytime pass. It shows little reaction to divers and will not retract instantly the way some smaller anemones do, but slow, careful approaches avoid triggering any withdrawal.
Alicia mirabilis belongs to the family Aliciidae, whose members are known to carry potent nematocysts (stinging cells) capable of causing a burning irritation on contact with human skin, even though the species is not considered dangerous to divers. Avoid touching the tentacles.
In the Northern Hemisphere, sightings concentrate strongly between May and September, aligning with warmer coastal water temperatures. Outside this window, encounters become noticeably less frequent.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
Most consistently logged around Portugal, particularly along the Lisbon Coast, which accounts for the largest share of sightings by a considerable margin. The Costa Brava in Spain and the waters around Sicilia and Lampedusa in Italy are also reliable areas, with Tenerife and La Palma in the Canary Islands rounding out the best Atlantic options. A smaller but notable set of records comes from the Southern Islands of Singapore, showing the species reaches warmer Indo-Pacific waters too.
Mapping where Barried Anemone is logged…
The Lisbon Coast in Portugal has by far the strongest concentration of recorded sightings. The Costa Brava in Spain, the waters around Sicilia and Lampedusa in Italy, and the Canary Islands are all solid options. There are also confirmed sightings from the Southern Islands of Singapore.
In the Northern Hemisphere, May through September is the prime window based on recorded sightings. Water temperatures across its range span roughly 14 to 28 °C, and the warmer summer months in the Mediterranean and Atlantic appear to be when divers encounter it most reliably.
The key features are a tall, bumpy or warty column and unusually long, slender tentacles that extend well beyond what you see on typical rocky-reef anemones. By day the animal may be contracted and easy to overlook; at night, with tentacles fully spread, it becomes far more recognisable. The semi-translucent, pale to brownish column is a useful secondary clue.
It is not considered dangerous to divers, but like other members of the Aliciidae family it carries potent stinging cells. Direct skin contact with the tentacles can cause a burning or itching reaction. Standard good practice is to keep your hands clear and maintain buoyancy control around it.
It is classed as uncommon at the large majority of sites where it has been recorded, with only a handful of sites reporting it as rare or common. Even at known locations you should not expect to see one on every dive, so patience and night diving improve your odds considerably.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Plumose Anemone
2,034 sites
