Chuck Davis / Tidal Flats Ltd.

With its stinging tentacles extended, a club anemone (living in...

Caption: With its stinging tentacles extended, a club anemone (living in a colony of other club anemones) feeds in the shadows of a giant kelp forest reef ledge, in the Santa Barbara Channel, Santa Barbara, California.
Scientific name: Corynactis californica
Location: Santa Babara Channel, Santa Barbara, California
Copyright: © Chuck Davis / Tidal Flats, Ltd.
Photographer Code: CAC097836
AGPix ID: AGPix_ChDaTiFl26_0104
Photo Alignment: 35mm (horizontal)
Comments: Club anemones get their common name from their club-shaped or "capitate" tentacles; the anemone's tentacles are equipped with powerful stinging cells called "nematocysts" which can dispatch a lethal sting to their small prey, although the sting of a club anemone would be harmless to humans. Club anemones form colonies via binary fission, but they can also reproduce by dispersing sexual gametes into the ocean.