Photo 1: A clonal aggregation of Pink-tipped Anemones in the intertidal zone.

Pink-tipped Anemone: Anthopleura elegantissima

Common Names: aggregating anemone, clonal anemone, elegant anemone

This anemone almost always has a ring of pink tips, which makes it easy is to distinguish from the Green Surf Anemone. It is also smaller. The Pink-tipped Anemone can reproduce asexually by exanding its columns and literally ripping itself into two clones. Large aggregations of these clones form colonies that behave aggresively to other anemones, even other Pink-tipped Anemones that come from different 'clone' stalk.

Photo 2: Pink-tipped Anemones

This anemone forms a symbiotic relationship with algae that give it its green color. It is a favorite food source for Leather Sea Stars.

 More Cnidarians of Vancouver Island and the Pacific Northwest

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