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Hymenopus coronatus
The orchid mantis has wide, petal-like lobes on its legs, particularly striking on young pink or white individuals. Notice where the apparent petals bend. Its longer front legs fold up near the head and can reach for insects visiting a nearby bloom.
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Anthopleura xanthogrammica
From above, the giant green anemone looks like a green bloom. Its soft tentacles radiate around a mouth. When exposed at low tide, the animal can pull them in. The column below the flowerlike disk anchors it to rock.
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Flower hat jelly
Bright colored tips on curling tentacles sit around a patterned bell, giving this jelly the look of an ornate flower. Because the tentacles and bell are parts of a swimming animal, the apparent petals can change position independently.
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Orange cup coral
This sun coral looks like a cluster of bright orange cups, especially when the individual polyps are closed. When extended, little tentacles ring each cup. The tentacles can give the colony a new shape without any change in its skeleton.
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Beadlet anemone
Open in water, a beadlet anemone has a crown of radiating tentacles. When the tide falls it may pull them inside and look like a small blob. A photograph of both states makes it easy to see how the same animal can lose its flower shape.
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Dahlia anemone
Its short, thick tentacles can form a compact bloom like a dahlia. Look for the fleshy central disk and rings of tentacles rather than separate petals on a stem. This is an anemone you may find in crevices or attached to rocky surfaces.
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Thomisus onustus
Look for a little triangular abdomen and long front legs on a pink, white, or yellow bloom. The spider’s color can blend with the petal behind it, leaving the shadow and small joints as better clues than color.
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Creobroter gemmatus
The jeweled flower mantis has a mottled body and a bright, eye-like mark on each forewing. Its flat outline can blend into a cluster of leaves and flowers. Watch for the narrow face and folded front legs to distinguish it from a bloom.
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Metridium
A dense fringe divides into many thin tentacles at the top, giving the animal a ruffled head. Wide colonies can resemble bunches of feathery blooms. Look for the smooth stalk below that crown and the change in shape as the anemone folds.
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Goniopora
Each extended polyp looks like a little daisy on a stalk, with a ring of tentacles around a central mouth. What appears to be a whole bunch of blooms is a colony. Watching one polyp retract makes the hard coral below easier to see.
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Porpita porpita
The blue button has a round center with branching blue tentacles along the edge, like a flower floating on the water. The resemblance comes from a colony of tiny animals attached to a central float.
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Alveopora
The tips of its extended polyps can look like tiny white flowers on a longer stem. Separate one flower shape from the next and count the twelve tentacles around its center. Neighboring polyps repeat that same small structure.
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Bubble-tip anemone
Round swellings on some of its tentacles can make the disk look like a crown of buds. Shape varies and some tentacles are long and pointed. Watch how a tentacle bends near the central mouth to tell this living crown from flower petals.
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Cassiopea
This jelly often rests with its bell down and its branching arms pointing upward. From above, a few together can look like a patch of short flowers on the seabed. Notice the pulsing bell underneath the rosette of arms.
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Pachycerianthus fimbriatus
The fringe of slender tentacles looks like a flower above the sand. A tube anemone has a ring of longer outer tentacles and shorter ones nearer the mouth. The animal can withdraw completely into its buried tube.
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Spirobranchus giganteus
Two bright spiral crowns emerge from a small opening in coral. Seen from above, the circles and tiny branches can look like two feathery blossoms. The crowns can vanish quickly when the worm withdraws into its tube.
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Toxopneustes pileolus
The bright little shapes covering this urchin look like a mass of blossoms. They are tiny grasping structures called pedicellariae, not petals. There are also spines on the rounded body. Observe the shape in a photo or underwater from a distance.
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Cucumaria miniata
A sea cucumber can open a crown of branched orange feeding tentacles. Against the rock it has the effect of a small, vividly colored flower. Follow the crown to the soft, usually partly hidden body to see where the animal begins.
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Antedon mediterranea
From above, a Mediterranean feather star looks like a many-petaled flower. Look more closely to see that its arms are jointed and feathered. A group of small appendages underneath grips the rock while the arms spread for feeding.
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Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi
Pale bands and angular legs make a resting spiny flower mantis look at home among buds. An adult can open its wings to reveal a large eyespot, a different effect from the flower disguise. Look for the small pointed head and folded forelegs.
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Idolomantis
Its flattened legs and thorax make an irregular outline like a cluster of dried petals. When it raises its front legs in a display, stronger markings become visible. The display and the still, flowerlike shape are two different views of the same insect.
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