Sea anemones are among the most visually striking marine animals. Their welfare is affected by collection for aquaria, ocean warming causing bleaching, and physical disturbance in their intertidal habitats.
Sea anemones show clear behavioural responses to disturbance — withdrawal, closure, and chemical signalling — that suggest some capacity for aversive experience. Collection for marine aquaria removes animals from complex ecological roles including hosting anemonefish communities. Ocean warming disrupts the symbiotic zooxanthellae that provide anemones with photosynthetic nutrition, causing bleaching and starvation. Physical disturbance in rock pools from careless visitor behaviour causes repeated stress responses in what may be long-lived individuals.