Stats

Lifespan: Decades
Size: Small
Diet: Carnivore
Activity: Cathemeral
Social: Colony
Biome: Temperate intertidal zone
Range: North America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Venom
Status: Common

About

The aggregating anemone blankets Pacific tidal rocks in dense clonal colonies, each individual formed by splitting in two from its neighbours. It harbours symbiotic algae inside its tissues that tint its column green or brown, and its tentacles are tipped in lavender or pink.

Life cycle

1.
planula larva
A free-swimming planula larva drifts with the current, coated in fine cilia, before settling onto a hard surface.
2.
juvenile polyp
A settled juvenile polyp anchors to rock and grows its first ring of short tentacles.
3.
adult
Fully grown, anchored in place with a full crown of stinging tentacles.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Order: Actiniaria
Family: Actiniidae
Genus: Anthopleura
Species: Anthopleura elegantissima