It has a brown-green to reddish colour,[2] with concentric, dark, longitudinal rings on the body wall,[3] and is roughly cylindrical to conical in shape.

[4] This is a common species that occurs mainly in the Mediterranean Sea, and can also be found in the adjacent parts of the Atlantic Ocean.

[5] Actinia cari lives in rocky areas, attaching itself to rocks and the underside of smooth stones.

This sea anemone contains toxins that can be extracted by the "milking" method using gel and ion exchange chromatography.

[8] Another caritoxin, CTX III, has also been isolated using controlled autolysis of the tentacles through a nylon sieve, and separated using gel chromatography.