[3][4] Metridium farcimen is a large sea anemone, occasionally reaching a height of one metre (39 in) when fully extended.

The oral disc is lobed and deeply convoluted at the edge and bears well over 100 fine, short, tapering tentacles.

[2] Large specimens have been seen to have long, thick, fighting tentacles, used to drive away other anemones trying to settle too close.

[2] It is found in the sublittoral zone on rocks, mollusc shells, pilings, docks and other man-made structures and even in polluted waters.

[5] It is also found at great depths, near hydrothermal vents, cold water seeps and decomposing whale carcasses on the seabed.

It captures small invertebrates, zooplankton and other food particles with the nematocysts on its tentacles and thrusts them into the mouth in the centre of its oral disc.

[6][8] Reproduction takes place with the liberation of eggs and sperm from the gonads embedded in the body wall which are then ejected through the mouth.