Release

[jrnannery]

There doesn't seem to be an appropriate forum for this, so, I'll put it here.

In you guys' minds, is there ever a case to be made for releasing any of our corals into the gulf? Have any of you ever been tempted to put a couple of zoa frags out at the jettys? There's zoas in the Flower Garden Banks reef in the gulf, and tons of other deep water corals, but has anyone thought about creating an artificial reef in a more accesible area?

I know that releasing fish into non-native waters can be extremely bad for an ecosystem, ie, lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico. Coral, for the most part, just seems rather different. Anemones may be a bit aggressive, but what about acros, and other sps?

What are yalls thoughts?

[Big_Pun]

don't mess with mother nature, plus waters where coral are from is very clear unlike our muddy gulf.

[SoLiD]

All corals compete for life in one way or another. Just because you don't see it, that doesn't mean there isn't a massive war being waged in our mixed reef tanks. There has already been a release of invasive Sun Coral (Tubestrea) in the Gulf of Mexico that I know of. It sounds wonderful in thought, but I think it would be almost impossible to keep corals confined to one area once they begin to spawn. They will just go where ever they can prosper, regardless if other corals inhabit the area.

http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww276/ronfish_99/suncoral.jpg

[jroescher]

I would guess that it's illegal. Would have to ask a game warden.

I would also assume that if it didn't come from the Gulf, that not only is there the risk of it growing out of control but also that there is no protection from predators.

[jrnannery]

Well, I did find one article about the tubastrea in the gulf : http://reefbuilders.com/2010/08/16/black-sun-coral-tubastrea-micrantha-growing-gulf-oil-platform/, but also there are widespread reports of tubastraea coccinea, which is the orange type with bright yellow polyps. As far as I have been able to determine, they have only been found on manmade structures, including manmade reefs, and mostly on oil platforms. Seems like a cheap source for the black and orange sun corals for someone capable of collecting it for the trade.

I know that our gulf is murky, but I don't think softies would really mind. Acros may be a different story.