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View Full Version : How about an ID?


kirkandkhristi
Mon, 12th Mar 2007, 11:29 AM
Hey there folks! I could start with the painfully obvious (like, I am new here) but I will spare you of this. I have a Biocube 14 with assorted critters but there is one critter that I would like to positively identify if possible. It was sold to me simply as a palythoa although it does not really look like most palys to me. Anyone able to give a positive ID?

http://web.mac.com/kswinneyfour/iWeb/The%20Swinney%27s%20website/Photos_files/DSCF0008.jpg


Here is another angle
http://web.mac.com/kswinneyfour/iWeb/The%20Swinney%27s%20website/Photos_files/DSCF0551.jpg
DaBird47
Fri, 16th Mar 2007, 04:28 PM
I don't have an ID but here's a bump...
kirkandkhristi
Fri, 16th Mar 2007, 07:23 PM
My wife claims to have found the name at one time with a pic on the web, but I tried and tried, and no luck as of yet...
BIGBIRD123
Fri, 16th Mar 2007, 08:13 PM
It could be a Tubinaria or some form of Pagoda.

Steve
stoneroller
Fri, 16th Mar 2007, 08:46 PM
Is it stoney at the bottom or soft to the bottom? It sure does look cool.
kirkandkhristi
Fri, 16th Mar 2007, 11:20 PM
You know, I have not really had reason to give it a prod or a poke, so I couldn't really say if it has a stoney or soft bottom. I can tell you that the few times I have bumped the top that is had quite a firm, almost leather feel. I will investigate further and give a bit more description.
MikeP
Mon, 19th Mar 2007, 10:45 AM
Palythoa - sometimes called 'sea mats'. Pretty distinctive from the webbed tissue connecting the polyps and how they retract. Some species of this are highly poisonous , might contain strong palytoxin, so I would be careful if you decide to frag it.
Ram_Puppy
Mon, 19th Mar 2007, 11:19 AM
umm, If that's palythoa then it's a typeI have never seen. Palythoa are Zoanthids on steroids, and grow exactly the same. their stalks are not conjoined all the way up to the disc.

I mean I may be wrong, but I have never seen Palythoa grow in this pattern, and as one of my favorite softies, I have looked at quite a few.
MikeP
Mon, 19th Mar 2007, 11:31 AM
umm, If that's palythoa then it's a typeI have never seen. Palythoa are Zoanthids on steroids, and grow exactly the same. their stalks are not conjoined all the way up to the disc.

I mean I may be wrong, but I have never seen Palythoa grow in this pattern, and as one of my favorite softies, I have looked at quite a few.

Its a palythoa. I will bet you my junior taxonomist badge on it! :lol
Ram_Puppy
Mon, 19th Mar 2007, 11:33 AM
I am not so much doubting him as trying to understand why suck a different growth form would even be considered in the same species.
MikeP
Mon, 19th Mar 2007, 11:38 AM
I am not so much doubting him as trying to understand why suck a different growth form would even be considered in the same species.

I believe the 'button' polyps many people call playthoa are actually in the protopalythoa genus. The distinguishing factor all palythoa have is the thick mat between polyps.

The best synopsis I found on the difference in 'zoanthid' type colonial corals is here:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/invert.htm
Ram_Puppy
Mon, 19th Mar 2007, 01:48 PM
there ya go... that has got to be it... and no one ever calls protopaly's by their proper name.

well cool, now we can start a trend.
kirkandkhristi
Mon, 19th Mar 2007, 02:12 PM
This thing was sold as a palythoa but the more I looked, the more I doubted. I began to suspect some sort of a protopalythoa, but again I have yet to see a photo of something that looks exactly the same. Maybe I should not have such an expectation. I have seen several pics of similar looking critters, but none that were close enough for me to say THATS IT!. I guess it would be nice to punch in whatever name a particular coral has and find an "exact" match at least on the first ten pages of hits...