Need help with an ID

[Diverspoint]

My bad, sorry. I just saw California.

To be honest I had to look up gulf of California, as I knop it only as Sea of Cortez

 

[JamesBon92007]

No ID help, just reporting that I commonly see something very similar in Monterey/Carmel.

Identical size, shape, texture, but they are black in color, with the white "button".

I always wondered what they were, so hopefully I will find out here.

What you described sounds like a keyhole limpet, possibly a giant. But everyone seems to think this is an inside-out anemone which I don't think I've ever seen.

 

[agilis]

It's an anemone that has withdrawn into itself. It's not inside out. I still suspect it's a Flower Anemone. In any case this belongs in the "Name That Critter" segment of Scubaboard.