Anemone on the beach?

As you know i'm from Ireland and its very unlikely to see anemones and unusual corals in the country. Yesterday I visited a rocky beach down the road and noticed a sort of anemone in one of the rock pools. Water had gathered in a hole in one of the giant boulders and in there seemed to be some sort of anemone. It was a yellowish colour with pink tips, I'm sorry but I couldn't resist but to poke it with a shell :-/. When I did he graped onto the shell quickly and literally stuck his tentacles around the piece of shell. Its really really unusual to find an anemone on a rocky beach in Ireland, so what could this be and how did it get there?
I forgot to mention another one I found, but when I poked that one it sort of went into a squishy ball. I left them as is and walked away puzzled to find an anemone in Ireland on a rainy day.

 

where about are you? north east south west?

 

East

 

it's possible. there are loads of cold water nems.

 

hmm was hoping for west, could've been an atlantic anemone, lfs says its dead easy to keep alive, saw them keeping one in a fluval edge, sorry i couldnt help you, maybe somebody else could chime in

 

some type of rock anemone

 

I grew up in Wales and there was an abundance of anemones at the beaches and rock pools there. I dont know the scientific name of the species we used to find there. But the common name was Blood Anemones, as they were blood red in colour.

Also, we did the poking it with whatever we could find lying around. Sometimes the bravest/toughest kids would poke it with their fingers. lol. Not me though :S

 

I believe they are also commonly called Beadlet Nems

Beadlet anemone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I also used to visit Anglesey and they where very common in the rock pools there

they have a very powerful sting and when you try and prize them off rocks they will squirt a jet of salt water at you so take care if your considering collecting

they wont do well in warm tanks in UK houses IMHE

Steve