Rhodactis howesii is a species of marine cnidarian in the order Corallimorpharia, a sea anemone-like corallimorph found on reefs in tropical regions of the Pacific Ocean.

[3] R. howesii is a carnivore and catches plankton and other micro particles that float past its oral disc.

[3] The three patients who had been poisoned by R. howesii and who were observed in a hospital in Samoa, fell into a prolonged stupor which lasted from 8 to 36 hours.

Over the next few years, the population increased rapidly close to the vessel and by 2008 had reached high concentrations and a phase shift had occurred in the ecology of the reef.

Around the ship, R. howesii covered the sea bed overgrowing and directly competing with the few remaining corals (mainly Montipora sp., Pocillopora sp.

[4] Quite why R. howesii has flourished so abundantly at this location is not fully understood, but it is possible that iron is leaching from the ship and promoting its growth.

This hypothesis is supported by the fact that similar explosive growth in numbers of R. howesii has occurred around the mooring chains of three buoys anchored some distance from the wreck.