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When tidepooling in the Low Tide Zone, it is the starburst anemone that may often be discovered in the middle of a fight, with its white, blunt acrorhagi (the tentacles with the rounded white ends) inflated. As they fight, touching each other with their acrorhagi, the white areas of the acrorhagi become tattered.
The white is a concentration of stinging cells and when touched by an enemy, it will slough off and continue stinging the enemy again and again. Eventually, one anemone moves away from the tentacle-reach of its neighbor to stop the fight.Image credit: Genny Anderson, Santa Barbara City College
