Rainbow Carpet Anemone Spotted at Sexy Corals

Haddoni carpet anemones (Stichodactyla haddoni) have always been interesting and alluring creatures in our book. Their tightly packed, often “sticky” tentacles and undulating lobes make them far different than most other anemones, and their bright color variations cause them to be hightly sought after by aquarium hobbyists. Typically, carpet anemones show up as large, bright neon green individuals, or variations thereof. But every once in a while we get to see rare blue carpets. Even rarer are the red carpet anemones, which never last long on a vendor’s website and are quickly snatched up if local hobbyists are selling them on the forums. Despite the scarcity of the red carpet anemones, which is matched only by the intensity of their color, their is an even rarer color morph…the rainbow carpet anemone.

While most uses of the descriptor “rainbow” are a stretch, this one-of-a-kind anemone fits the bill. It sports a vast array of colors, with the base being a light purple and its tentacles showing up as red, orange, green, pink, and yellow. This rare anemone was originally acquried by the California-based online retailer, Sexy Corals, who showed it off on their Reef2Reef forum. The anemone had a retail price of $1250 shipped on it, but it didn’t last long as it was scopped up by another hobbyist.

Before we go, we wanted to say that we do realize this anemone is glowing under heavy actinic lighting, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is both a very colorful and very rare anemone.