But what's truly remarkable about Anthosactis pearseae is where it lives and where researchers sent it to be studied, classified and named.

And, of course, that the tiny anemone nearly stayed undiscovered at the bottom of the ocean.

The white, molar-shape creatures didn't strike scientist Robert Vrijenhoek as all that remarkable.

Vrijenhoek, a senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, saw the species during several deep-sea missions to investigate a whale carcass near Monterey Bay off the California coast.

Vrijenhoek said this particular whale host likely died about six months before researchers stumbled across it in 2002 while searching for deep-sea clam beds.

Red plume worms covered the bones. Among them sat the anemones.

Then Vicki Pearse, a veteran research associate at the University of California at Santa Cruz, joined Vrijenhoek on a trip in 2005 and saw them.

"Vicki immediately recognized these anemones might be new to science," Vrijenhoek said.

Pearse said that although it was her first "whale fall," or whale corpse that has become the host for deep-sea life, she knew that anemones had not been associated with the giant creatures.

Using a remote-operated submersible, the team gathered anemones from the whale's jaw and rib bones. The specimens were placed in a box that was brought to the surface. There, the anemones were preserved.

But then what? There are many more anemones than anemone experts.

Finally, 10 samples were sent nearly 2,500 miles to a lab at landlocked Ohio State University, one of two places in the United States where anemones are studied. (The other is the University of Kansas.)

"We were really excited," said Meg Daly, an evolution, ecology and organismal biology professor. "We could tell right away they were something new."

Armed with a microscope, a database of anemone knowledge and a lot of patience, Daly spent a year piecing together clues about the creature.

"Every little string you start to tug, there's a huge ball of research behind it," she said.

There are more than 1,100 known species of anemones, primitive, brainless creatures with tentacles. They are related to corals and jellyfish.

But this one was special. It was found on a whale carcass.

That's a first, said Daly, whose work was described in a recent issue of the Journal of Natural History.

Daly named the anemone Anthosactis pearseae for the researcher who found them .

Among other research, Daly said she has measured the anemone's stinging capsules and documented its skin and muscle microanatomy.

She said she hopes to uncover its evolutionary history.

But for now, researchers know little about the anemones and the place they call home.

Whale falls, first documented in 1989, occur when a whale dies and sinks to the ocean floor. Within days, scavengers, such as sharks, attack the whale's flesh, which they can fully devour in about a year.

But the bones remain on the ocean floor, serving as an oasis for a number of creatures.

Craig Smith, a University of Hawaii oceanographer, said scientists have located about 30 whale carcasses.

"We're just beginning to scratch the surface," he said.

Smith said researchers have documented more than 400 species that live off of whale falls, including 35 species known to exist only on carcasses.

But Smith said limited funding and a lack of specialized researchers have prevented many of the animals from being identified.

Creatures that live on whale falls include mollusks, crustaceans and worms. Some feed on the bones' organic matter or break down their oil. Others convert the sulfur released from the decaying bones into energy, like plants do with sunlight.

Lisa Levin, a researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California, said humans have explored less than 1 percent of the deep-sea floor.

"I don't think we're ever going to be able to explore and understand everything out there in the deep sea," Levin said.

The underwater landscape is black and abounds with life. Although the deep sea lacks plant life -- that requires sunlight -- it is home to everything from corals and sponges to fish and crustaceans.

How? One answer is hydrothermal vents, openings in the ocean floor that release mineral-rich water as hot as 750 degrees.

Like whale carcasses, they were only recently discovered. And they, too, support a variety of sea life, including anemones.

Daly estimates there are another 500 species of sea anemones that scientists have yet to discover or categorize.

"The deep sea is such an amazing place to work because you're always surprised," Daly said.

Daly said Anthosactis pearseae is an asexual reproducer, but how it locates whale bones and what it eats is unclear. It might feed on bacteria or the eggs of larvae and worms, she said.

The anemone captures food either with its tentacles or by moving over it.

"They're bathed in food," she said.

Daly said anemones likely die when the whale bones disintegrate, which could take 100 years.

Vrijenhoek said scientists have placed several pieces of wood near a whale's carcass to see if the wood attracts anemones.

"It's conceivable they might show up on wood," he said.

Smith recently sent Daly a picture of an anemone he found on a whale bone in 2002.

It's unclear whether that anemone, found off of southern California, is Anthosactis pearseae , but Daly is eager to study it.

And in December, Daly will fly to California, board a research vessel and search for anemones at another whale fall.

It will be her first.

She said she expects additional species will be found on other whale falls.

"It's not surprising there are sea anemones," Daly said. "But it's wonderful to begin to document the diversity."

goff@dispatch.com