(photo of Patrick Randall, shallow waters of Okinawa, Japan)
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THeteractis aurora is the sole true Heteractis species. According to K.W. England (1988) all other species (including well known for all marine tank keepers species referred as Heteractis magnifica, Heteractis malu and Heteractis crispa) are wrongly assigned to the genus Heteractis. They all belong to other genera (in particular three above named species actually belong to Radianthus and must be referred as Radianthus magnifica, Radianthus malu and Radianthus crispa). In Heteractis aurora the tentacles never arranged in longitudinal rows on the disk, they are arranged in circles as in many other anemones, while in Radianthus (and in other Stichodactylidae, for example in Stichodactyla) some tentacles on the disk are arranged in rows along the radiuses of the oral disk. There are other differences, for details see the paper of K.W. England (1988).
It is hard to misidentify this species, its peculiar moniliform tentacles with very characteristic swellings or protuberances, which may be blister-like or more frequently forming a band across tentacle are very characteristic and diagnostic. Occasionally Heteractis aurora is confused with Phymanthus species, which also has proturberances or swellings on the sides of the tentacles, but Phymanthus also has additional small tentacles, often looking just as low bumps arranged in rows along the radiuses of oral disk, (see Phymanthus crucifer).
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