Aggregating Anenome
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The aggregating anenome, anthopleura elegantissima, can be found on rocky, tide swept shores.
This species of sea anemone lives in colonies of related polyps. When one colony encounters another, the two colonies will wage territorial battles.
The aggregating anemone has a specialized tentacle called an acrorhagi that inflates and has stinging cells but is not used in food gathering. Instead, it is used to attack enemy anemones. It is difficult to study these anemones in the wild as they live in the tide zone. When the tide is out, they are closed up. When the tide is up, the action of the waves blocks viewing.
A study of two colonies on a boulder removed from the shore and brought into a laboratory revealed that hostilities between neighboring colonies follow the tides. As water rushed into the tank, some of the polyps inflated their acrorhagi, tripled their body length and began reaching into an empty swath pf rock between the colonies. Occassionaly, a polyp from one of the colonies would move into the no-mans zone between the two colonies, acting as a scout, and would be attacked by the warrior polyps. If the scout polyp received enough stings, it would be attacked upon returning to its own colony. This is likely because it has picked up so many stinging cells from the enemy colony that its own colony mates no longer recognize it.
References
- Ayre, D.J., and R.K. Grosberg (2005). "Behind anemone lines: Factors affecting division of labour in the social cnidarian Anthopleura elegantissima". Animal Behaviour In press (): Abstract (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.08.022).
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