frog spawn is asexually reproducing

[mmcguffi]

Today I notice a small neon green bleb on my LR and on closer inspection it's a tiny frog spawn frag.

 

here it is next to a small mushroom

 

in a plastic holder-thing showing how small it actually is

 

 

At the bottom of the frogspawn the 'skirt' has extended farther than usual and these little blebs are protruding from it. I guess it releases them once they are big enough. It was really hard to get a picture so here's the best I could do for now

 

 

Has anyone ever seen or heard of this before?? It's pretty wild to me, I wasnt aware that euphillia reproduced this way

[Euphyllia]

Is it possible it could have sexually reproduced without you knowing? And ate you sure it isn't just a dropped tentacle? Does it have a stalk?

[cgambrell]

mmc, funny you shoulf mention this tonight i was feeding my new sun coral and looked up at my frogspawn i notice these little green dots on the main stalk before it branches into the two heads and continued looking and there is one on a very tiny stalk that looks as though its going to come off. Is this what yours looks like??

[mmcguffi]

It's possible but I only have one FS in my tank and I know nothing of the euphillia reproduction method.

 

Im fairly certain it is a small clone it release. All the 'bubbles' are much, much smaller than anything else on the coral (indicating it isnt a dropped tentacle). Also, since there are about 5+ of these guys visible at the base of the FS growing out it really seems like this is asexual reproduction

 

Also, my FS just divided from 2 heads to 4. So it must be happy and this would be a logical time for it to asexually reproduce

 

Is it possible it could have sexually reproduced without you knowing? And ate you sure it isn't just a dropped tentacle? Does it have a stalk?

 

 

YES. This is exactly where I see them. They dont really have stalks though, they are more like buttons

mmc, funny you shoulf mention this tonight i was feeding my new sun coral and looked up at my frogspawn i notice these little green dots on the main stalk before it branches into the two heads and continued looking and there is one on a very tiny stalk that looks as though its going to come off. Is this what yours looks like??

[cgambrell]

ill try to get picks of mine tomorrow to compare this is pretty awesome! Mine has about five or six of the raised bumps and then the this stalk thing i mean like thinner than a toothpick about sewing needle thickness. with one of the bumps on the end.

[cgambrell]

Couldnt stand it got some pics sorry they are crappy taken with phone! 1st shows the raised green bumps on the coral flesh

 

 

2nd shows the tiny stalk to the left with a bump at the end.

 

see above post

[mmcguffi]

Yep. That is 100% where I see mine too. You even have the 'extended skirt' that I have too.

 

Mine look just like yours but theyre bright green and have several 'bubbles' (idk if yours does too, it cant really make it out from the picture)

 

this is really strange, Ive never heard of this before!

[brandon429]

looks interesting

try googling polyp bailout reproduction

its common in pocilloporids but these are neat pics Im not sure.

[cgambrell]

This is really awesome! Yea mine are bright green but dont have as many bubbles on the tentacles as yours. I think mine is still pretty young? The total they put out is about a silver dollar size for each head with the mouth in the middle.

 

"Budding

A coral reproducing through the budding process forms a small polyp ball that slowly droops off the mother colony. After a while the flesh that attaches the two tears away and the daughter colony resettles in another location. This method of asexual reproduction is very common in stony corals. "

 

Just doing some research and came across this at the tidal gardens website

[iheartJMS]

My frogspawn is doing the same as your guys' I believe. It has 4 big heads and 2 little ones are growing out from the base like those pictures. They started as just "bumps" if you would but now you can definitely make out the neon green bubbles at the tips and it looks just like a mini frogspawn...

 

EDIT: Oh yeah, and I have also found a tiny frogspawn as pictured in first post. The tips or bubbles were much smaller than the rest on my frogspawn so I don't think it could've just let go or dropped or however you put it lol

[carbon-mantis]

Hmm, a lot of the sexual reproduction events take place during a full moon. If I'm not mistaken, tomorrow marks a complete "new moon." Maybe a connection between this and the asexual reproductive phases, or coincidence?

[Trolldoll]

Mine does it all the time. Those little babies still pack a powerful sting and will kill other corals. I siphon them out whenever I see them.

[mike c]

My hammer coral has few of these growing. Although they haven't disconnected.

 

[picoreef78]

Pretty cool. Let some of the Marine Biologist know about it on Advanced Aquarist or coral magazine, they might be helpful too, but great job at getting photo documentation.

[RayWhisperer]

It's quite common for all Eupyllia species to reproduce this way. AFAIK, it has nothing to do with the moon phase. Pretty much just like zoa's popping out a new polyp.

[mmcguffi]

huh pretty neat though. I didnt know this was a common was for any of the stony corals to reproduce. when I think of the analogy of zoas popping out a new polyp, I think of a euphyllia growing a new head. it seems it's a little different cuz I believe these buds are designed for release into the water column so they can 'sprout' somewhere new

 

over the past few months Ive seen more of these guys in random corners in my tank as well as noticing them beneath the heads waiting to pop off

[picoreef78]

http://animal-world.com/Aquarium-Coral-Reefs/Torch-Coral