Fighting Tentacles or Acrorhagi, Starburst Anemone, Anthopleura sola
Corallina Cove,
Montana de Oro State Park,
San Luis Obispo Co, California
I'm interested enough in this that I did a little homework.
The typical tentacles are green at left and yellow-green at right with the white fighting tentacles forming a collar below them and usually retracted. As needed, the acrorhagi can expand and can fire potent nematocysts ("stinging capsules") when touching another anemone. The anemone at left (and the circular part shown here is just a protruded out part of the larger anemone) had its fighting tentacles extended while the anemone at lower right expanded closer and closer. In this frame it was slightly below the one at left, but when they appeared to touch, the one at right retracted quickly. "The victim may then move away from the 'aggressor' or even detach completely from the substrate. Within a few days necrosis may ensue, sometimes causing death . . ."--Hydrobiologia 216/217: 539-545, 1991. R. B. Williams, et al.
(See also the adjacent photo.)
Fighting Tentacles or Acrorhagi, Starburst Anemone, Anthopleura sola
Corallina Cove,
Montana de Oro State Park,
San Luis Obispo Co, California
I'm interested enough in this that I did a little homework.
The typical tentacles are green at left and yellow-green at right with the white fighting tentacles forming a collar below them and usually retracted. As needed, the acrorhagi can expand and can fire potent nematocysts ("stinging capsules") when touching another anemone. The anemone at left (and the circular part shown here is just a protruded out part of the larger anemone) had its fighting tentacles extended while the anemone at lower right expanded closer and closer. In this frame it was slightly below the one at left, but when they appeared to touch, the one at right retracted quickly. "The victim may then move away from the 'aggressor' or even detach completely from the substrate. Within a few days necrosis may ensue, sometimes causing death . . ."--Hydrobiologia 216/217: 539-545, 1991. R. B. Williams, et al.
(See also the adjacent photo.)