Starburst Anemone

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Aggregating anemone
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Cnidaria Class: Anthozoa Subclass: Zoantharia Order: Actiniaria Suborder: Nyantheae Infraorder: Thenaria Family: Actiniidae Genus: Anthopleura Species: A. sola
Binomial name
Anthopleura sola (Brandt, 1835)

The Starburst Anemone, (Anthopleura sola) is a species of sea anemone, of the family Actiniidae. It can be found in a low tide zone below the sea level.

The Starburst Anemone looks very similar to Aggregating anemone, Anthopleura elegantissima , and formerly was simply identified as a solitary form of A. elegantissima. Pearse and Francis identified it as a separate species by molecular techniques in 2000. It grows larger than Anthopleura elegantissima usually does (up to 25 cm wide),^[1]

This species of anemone reproduces sexually.When the feeding tentacles of neighbor Starburst Anemones touch each other, they would inflate their fighting tentacles (called acrorhagi) and fight until one would move.The white tips of acrorhagi is a concentration of stinging cells and when touched, to an enemy, it will slough off - to keep on stinging the enemy again and again. It is interesting to know that Aggregating anemone, Anthopleura elegantissima also have the same acrorhagi, which are used to fight their clone war.

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