Talk:Animal Flower Cave

This article follows the local practice of calling the animal flowers "sea anemones". I went to see the cave yesterday, and I'm fairly certain they are not sea anemones, but perhaps stellids. They retract quickly when disturbed, like a christmas tree worm. Unlike christmas tree worms I've seen, however, the tube was exposed, not concealed in a host structure. The tube was about three inches long and semi rigid. The animal attached itself to a rock by means of a foot of sorts at the bottom of the tube.

The "flower" was a mottled brown and black color, although the guide stated that there are various colors. There was only one individual, which retracted when the guide disturbed it.

Danjamitch (talk) 17:52, 28 April 2010 (UTC)


 * From the A~Z of Barbados Heritage. Page 8. "Animal Flower Cave"

Two caverns in the rugged sea cliffs of St. Lucy, opening on to the Atlantic. A traditional tourist attraction, and described at length by the Rev. Griffith Hughes (1750) and Sir Robert Schomburgk (1848) both for the dramatic physical features of the caves and for the colourful 'animal flowers' that flourished in the pools within, but are now much less prominent. Some of these 'animal flowers' are sea anemones while other, with their whorls of delicate tentacles, are filter-feeding tube worms like Sabellastarte magnifica, the Animal Flower.