homebrewed Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 I picked this up off a hobbiest who claimed it was an xenia. It has the color of a pipe organ but isn't growing a hard skeleton. It grows like waving xenia as it is spreading soft flesh across the live rock. It has doubled in size in roughly 2 months Any idea? Thanks Tim Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Looks like clove polyps to me! Link to comment
GHill762 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 It's some member of the star polyp/xenia family.. Link to comment
homebrewed Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 Thanks guys I had originally written off star polyps because I hadn't seen any extend this far out and most pictures didn't match. Hadn't thought much of it being a clove because all the ones I find are growing as separate stalks. There is one picture I've found which is identical and it's labeled as a daisy polyp but all other pictures of daisy polyps look very different. Link to comment
CoolNameGoesHere Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 looks like green encrusting gorgonian to me. gets easily confused with gsp bc they look similar. but encrusting gorgonian has longer extending polyps and is more "flow-y" than gsp. grows like a weed so be careful where you place it. it's a pain if you lose control of it. Link to comment
mrBananas Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 My LFS sells those as clove polyps, and the greens ones I've seen advertised as mint clove polyps. http://www.pacificaquafarms.com/NewImages/Week272/MuskmelomMintCloves.htm Link to comment
homebrewed Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 I hadnt researched any encrusted gorgonian. Thanks for the heads up, i look into them. It definitely is starting to grow and spread very quickly. Any cloves I've seen when irritated retract it's polyp into an elongated "stalk". When this coral gets irritated it shrinks down into a small bump as you can see in picture 4. Link to comment
GHill762 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 looks like green encrusting gorgonian to me. gets easily confused with gsp bc they look similar. but encrusting gorgonian has longer extending polyps and is more "flow-y" than gsp. grows like a weed so be careful where you place it. it's a pain if you lose control of it. I believe they're actually all the same family if I'm not mistaken.. xenidae or whatever.. Thanks guys I had originally written off star polyps because I hadn't seen any extend this far out and most pictures didn't match. Hadn't thought much of it being a clove because all the ones I find are growing as separate stalks. There is one picture I've found which is identical and it's labeled as a daisy polyp but all other pictures of daisy polyps look very different. I've got some brown/purple star polyps that are long and flowy just like that, but the polyps' tentacles look more like xenia on your pics.. kinda looks like waving hand.. Link to comment
homebrewed Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 That's what I thought regarding the feathery tenticles looking similar to waving hand xenia. The owner claimed he had bought the original frag about 20 years ago and the frag i bought was all that remained after a recent system crash. Link to comment
CoolNameGoesHere Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I think it's in the briareum family. Dunno if that's related to xenidae somewhere in the family tree or not. I have some and it looks just like that. Same pale purple mat that spreads everywhere. No stalks, just nubs when retracted. I'm fairly positive it's not a clove polyp or xenia, but then I'm just a hobbyist, not a scientist- what do I know. Link to comment
hypostatic Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 It's some member of the star polyp/xenia family.. +1 the main mat is like a purplish color right? if so, it's Briareum Link to comment
homebrewed Posted January 17, 2015 Author Share Posted January 17, 2015 That's great thanks for shedding some light on this mystery coral guys. With the way it's spreading I'll be fragging it in the near future and don't want to give it a false name. Link to comment
drexel Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 If the polyps retract into the mat, then it's Briareum/Clavularia. If they can't retract, then it's Anthelia. Link to comment
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