Marine Dimensions Education and Awareness

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Creature Feature Archive

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Welcome to the Marine Dimensions Education and Awareness page! This section will be featuring various aspects of Ireland's marine biodiversity each month, so if you're interested in wildlife, you should enjoy this section of the site. If you have any questions about the subjects we're covering, e-mail sarah@marinedimensions.ie and she'll do her best to answer.

Creature Feature

This month we are featuring the Beadlet Anemone, Actinia equina

An 'open' Beadlet Anemone reveals its flower like appearance

Beadlet Anemones are common along Ireland’s rocky shores. They belong to a group of animals known as Cnidarians (pronounced nidarians) which are characterised by a ‘flower-like’ appearance, often appearing in a variety of bright colours. They use their sticky tentacles to trap food which is then ingested through a central mouth (seen in the centre of the red anemone here). When anemones are disturbed, they quickly retreat by pulling in their tentacles. They are securely attached to rocks by a sucker-like base that can withstand the force of waves in an exposed rocky shore environment. More info... References

A 'closed' Beadlet Anemone appears like a blob of jelly

Pupils from City Quay NS in Dublin learning about our five armed friends during Heritage Week

Resources for teachers

	The Central Fisheries Board have developed a teaching resource for primary schools called Something Fishy ..more
	An INTERREG EU project called Planet Aqua is currently developing a resource pack for primary schools, including a teacher's manual, website and exhibition ..more
	The Marine Institute are developing training programmes and resources for teachers including a summer course in the Galway Education Centre; SESE and the Sea ..more
	Online resources are also available through overseas projects and programmes ..more

Really cool links

Ever thought the ocean was a quiet place? Check out Oceanlink's Underwater Sounds feature.

Find out about the INTERREG IIIA Irish Sea Leatherback Turtles Project. This project is tracking the progress of a female leatherback turtle by satellite (a first in Europe)! She has now travelled from Dingle to Africa and we are all waiting and watching to see where she'll end up!