Stichodactyla helianthus is a sea anemone

Sea anemone

Sea anemones are a group of water-dwelling, predatory animals of the order Actiniaria; they are named after the anemone, a terrestrial flower. Sea anemones are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Zoantharia. Anthozoa often have large polyps that allow for digestion of larger...

 of the family Stichodactylidae

Stichodactylidae

Stichodactylidae is a family sea anemones that contains the genera Stichodactyla and Heteractis. These tropical sea anemones host several varieties of clownfish.*Genus: Heteractis**Heteractis aurora...

. Helianthus stems from the Greek words ἡλιος (meaning sun), and ἀνθος, meaning flower. S. helianthus is also referred to as the 'sun anemone'. S. helianthus is a large, green, sessile

Sessility (zoology)

In zoology, sessility is a characteristic of animals which are not able to move about. They are usually permanently attached to a solid substrate of some kind, such as a part of a plant or dead tree trunk, a rock, or the hull of a ship in the case of barnacles. Corals lay down their own...

, carpet-like sea anemone, from the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

. It lives in shallow areas with mild to strong currents, and associates with clown fish.

S. helianthus excretes stichodactyla toxin

Stichodactyla toxin

Stichodactyla toxin is a peptide toxin that blocks the voltage-gated potassium channels: Kv1.1, Kv1.3 and Kv3.2.- Structure :ShK is a 35-residue basic peptide first discovered in the sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus by Professor Olga Castaneda from the University of Havana, Cuba, and her...

. It is believed that it excretes toxins mainly to protect itself from the spiny lobster

Spiny lobster

Spiny lobsters, also known as langouste or rock lobsters, are a family of about 45 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia...

.