Any idea on this one?

[floridaricordia]

Extends polyps at night.

 

[c est ma]

Hard skeleton?

 

What do the extended polyps look like? (Stalked, or not?)

 

--Diane

[NanoClown]

montipora porites, very easy, nice hitchiker, BTW nice zoa morphs

[c est ma]

I was going to chime in that I thought Montipora and Porites were 2 separate genera (which they are), when I searched Montipora spp and discovered there is in fact a Montipora porites. So that's (one of) my lesson(s) for the day!

 

 

But how are you so sure of this ID? Do you have any other pics or references? I did a Google image search with not terribly satisfactory results.

 

Curiously,

 

Diane

[NanoClown]

i just know that because i have had tons on my rock in my Finnex, thats why i bought the rock, but they bleached out and died during my cycle, ohh and if you look hard enought on google or any other search engine you will usually find a pic that looks like one

[NanoClown]

 

the coralite stucture if the two(his unkown and montipora porites) are nearly the same

 

also this is the best site for iDs http://whelk.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/coralid_search.php

i looked up montiporad porites there and they show the branching knid, but they po have one pic of the encrusting kind and the coralite sructure, so it does help out a bit

[c est ma]

Very cool, too bad you lost yours during the cycle!

 

Yes, I love that site! I did in fact look at it, but not closely enough to notice the encrusting form, I guess. And I only glanced at 3 or 4 pp of a google search, only seeing the branching type as you mentioned. Actually, I was lazy and it was easier just to ask you!

 

floridaricordea's looks healthy, so far. Wonder how the proximity to the zoas will affect it?

 

--Diane

[c est ma]

NanoClown--I have this tiny patch of a hh stony on the side of my Caulastrea frag. I got some shots of it closed up tonight (see little patch above the bend in the Caulastrea stalk):

 

 

 

Does that look like M. porites to you?

 

I also have pics of it open if that would help.

 

--Diane

[NanoClown]

looks like it, im not 100% on this one though, its tiny, btw nice Caulastrea frag you have there i had a frag before, but it wasnt nearly as neon as that

[c est ma]

Thanks for both comments, NC!

 

BTW, the polyps on M. porites are fairly small, no? I assume you mean my entire "colony" is pretty small--yes it is. But the extended polyps do have a stalk--would that rule out the M.p.? (Sorry for the hijack, floridaricordea!).

 

--Diane

[NanoClown]

yea i meant teh colony was tiny

 

and no, i have had two kinds one like flric, and one like yours, to me they both have the same structure so they must both be a M.porites

[c est ma]

Thank you!

 

--Diane

[The Propagator]

c est ma:

 

Thats a star coral. Stings and eats meat as well as floating particles.

Montipora does not sting and only eats filter foods.

Not the same species.

[c est ma]

c est ma:

 

Thats a star coral. Stings and eats meat as well as floating particles.

Montipora does not sting and only eats filter foods.

Not the same species.

 

 

Really? I think you may be thinking of another thread...

 

This is the specimen I'm talking about:

 

Closed

 

 

Open. Sorry about the depth of field. It's very tiny. But I think you can tell that there are a bunch of tiny polyps...

 

 

 

 

--Diane

[The Propagator]

Nope its this thread.

Thats a star coral AKA cup coral.

They call it a star coral because the coralites are shaped like tiny stars.