Mr. Fosi Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 This came in on a piece of aquacultured rock from the gulf. If you see anything else (other than the bubble algae) that you recognize, identify it as well. Link to comment
ethan29nano Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 Yikes , thats some ugly looking LR , How much a lb? Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 13, 2006 Author Share Posted March 13, 2006 $7/lb. This is a 1.5lb piece of a total 3lbs that I bought. I have two blue leg hermits in the curing tank cleaning the rock off. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 13, 2006 Author Share Posted March 13, 2006 No ideas? I was hoping for more than a negative comment about the rock... Link to comment
ebin Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 I kinda like the rock dosen't look like the usual boring stuff Link to comment
icenine Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 Look like cup corals... poke 'em and see if it feels like there is a skeleton. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 13, 2006 Author Share Posted March 13, 2006 They definitely retract when bothered. Feels like there may be a little something in there... Kinda soft on top and a little stiff further in. Perhaps I should try feeding it something... Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 17, 2006 Author Share Posted March 17, 2006 It is definately a coral of some type. There is a hard skeleton that is almost visable when the animal is fully retracted. I also found a second patch of this on the rock. I hope both patches survive and reproduce. Link to comment
Fanof49ASU Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 Tell the truth..... Did you jump when it retracted? Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 17, 2006 Author Share Posted March 17, 2006 Nope. Should I be proud? Link to comment
formerly icyuodd/icyoud2 Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...53&hl=cup+coral this might help Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 17, 2006 Author Share Posted March 17, 2006 I looked at that link, but I am sure that it is not a plate or mushroom, since it just doesn't look the same. I also found something else on the rock. I actually noticed it when I was first poking at the cup-coral-like animal. You can see this 'new' discovery in the origional full-monty picture at the beginning of the post as a bulge just below the brown corals and extending left away from the purple macroalgae stalks. It looks like rock, but it is soft and obviously attached. This morning, I noticed a hole in it, so I poked it and the hole (mouth?) closed up. Here is a closer pic of it: Doesn't look much like a sponge, and I doubt a grown sponge would have survived the 12hr dry flight from Florida. It doesn't move, so it probably isn't a cucumber. It actually looks like there could be another closed mouth to the left of the open one... Yaddya think? Link to comment
JF2381 Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 Cool find. I'll be tagging along, so I can see what they turn out to be. Link to comment
bigbabich Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 I think your rock looks very cool. more organic and less 'chunk of rock in water'. heres to all kinds of things popping out of there. Link to comment
c est ma Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 I think Icy meant you should follow the links in that thread to cup coral/tube coral threads. I can't really make out your picture clearly, but here's a link to a Reefs.org thread about hitch hikers that has some great pictures in it. Go to pages 2 & 3 of this thread and scroll down to the cup coral/tube coral pics to see what they look like. http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?...der=asc&start=0 I also can't really make out the second critter you mention, but from your description it sounds as if it could be a tunicate. They are frequent hitch hikers and come in an enormous variety of colors and sizes (mine were transparent). I don't have any good tunicate links but you should try searching for images of them. Here is a link to a Shimek article that has a few pics: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rs/index.php HTH, --Diane Link to comment
Ann Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 I agree with Diane, the second mystery creature is probably a tunicate. The fact that it (probably) has two openings (inhalent and exhalent siphons) and is responsive to external stimulus points to this rather than a sponge of some sort. If you want to check out some wonderful pictures of squirts then go here. You may find an ID there but probably not. I wish that they were easy to keep in captivity as I find them truely amazing creatures. Best regards Ann Link to comment
Fanof49ASU Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 Nope. Should I be proud? The other day, I was messing around with some live rock that I'm curing.....and I moved a chunk of rock and a dead bristleworm floated onto my arm.......I jumped. Link to comment
c est ma Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 Wow, Ann! Fantastic Ascidian website! That's a keeper! Thanks, --Diane Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 18, 2006 Author Share Posted March 18, 2006 Great links Diane & Ann! I found something that looks exactly like what is on my rock on that first link. I guess the corals are a Madracis sp. They are apparantly a zooxanthellate, which is very cool, since I didn't want to have to feed them. The SEM pic of the individal corallite in this link looks a lot like the ones on my rock when they retract. http://eusmilia.geology.uiowa.edu/database...at/mirablis.htm I didn't see anything on the tunicate links that looks like what is on my rock. I wish I could get a better picture, but I would need a better camera to do that. Link to comment
c est ma Posted March 19, 2006 Share Posted March 19, 2006 That's funny, I scrolled right by that Madracis pic, I was so intent on finding the cup & tube coral shots! You're right, it looks very much like what you have. Sounds like a pretty cool hitch hiker! And it sounds like you've already done some research on it. Let us know what you find out. --Diane Link to comment
CGNano Posted March 19, 2006 Share Posted March 19, 2006 First seems to be a Cup Coral, and I agree with Ann on the second. Gulf Aquaculture is some of the best live rock I've ever seen. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 20, 2006 Author Share Posted March 20, 2006 Many of the corals in the phylum Madracis were described and named in the mid-late 1800s. A brief classification listing: Order Scleractinia Class Pocilloporidae Phylum Madracis Species pharensis (Heller, 1868) pharensis forma pharensis Wells, 1973 sendaria mirabilis (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1861) carmabi formosa Wells, 1973 kerbyi asperula senaria Wells, 1974 decactis myriaster (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849) asanoi brueggemanni (Ridley, 1881) hellana interjecta kauaiensis Vaughan, 1907 myriaster (M. Edwards & Haime, 1849) profunda Zibrowius, 1980 singularis Rehberg, 1892 asperula Milne Edwards & Haime, 1850 decactis (Lyman, 1859) hellana M. Edwards & Haime, 1850 A German site that has a good coral database w/photos: http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/eng/0/0/0/index.htm Good list of stonies and LPS: http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl...cial_s%26sa%3DG Neat searchable database that has no pictures: http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/dev/valid_species.cfm Various sites displaying pictures of different Madracis species: http://coexploration.org/bbsr/coral/html/body_madracis.html http://whelk.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/html/...20pages/682.htm http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/de/94/123...is/sendaria.htm So far, what I have looks most like Madracis sendaria. I am searching for a good online way to key out this species, but I don't expect to find one. Anyone know of any good coral idetification keys or books that would otherwise assist me in figuring out which Atlantic coral I have? Link to comment
ImAnanoReefer Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 Dibs on the first frag if it lives! Heeheehee Link to comment
c est ma Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 Mr. Fosi, Since this thread's been resurrected, I'd just like to let you know that I enjoyed visiting the sites you posted, and have saved several. BTW, do you read German? How's the Madracis doing? Regarding coral ID, I don't think there are many, if any, keys available to us hobbyists. It's just such a big area, and the demand for any particular taxon is relatively small. You could try posting a query to Eric Borneman's Coral Forum at Marine Depot and see if you get any more info: http://www.marinedepot.com/FORUMS/Forum9-1.aspx --Diane Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 7, 2006 Author Share Posted April 7, 2006 IAmANanoReefer: If it grows enough to frag, you may certainly have some. Diane: Very cool. Glad to have helped. Sadly, I do not read German. There are so many good German reefing sites that it is almost worth learning the language just for them. The Madracis is doing very well. I found a second colony of it on the rear side of the rock and I have found a few small (~1mm) polyps elsewhere on the rock. I noticed one of the small polyps grab some of my fish food a few nights ago, so I decided to try target feeding the two larger 4-7 polyp colonies. They were very interested in the food and had it consumed in under 10min. I agree that keys are virtually impossible to find, which is evidenced by the lack up updates to this thread. I did see a quick reference guide to corals at one of my LFSs last night and I found Madracis in it. The book said that it was to be pronounced mad-RAY-sis, whereas I had been calling it maad-RA-sis. According to this book, their range is all through the mid-Atlantic and there are some in the western Pacific. I thought this distribution pattern interesting from a biogeophraphical standpoint. Those two areas are about as far from one another as you can get and still be on this planet. The book also claimed that Madracis species: 1) Prefer rather intense lighting 2) Will consume phyto/zooplankton as well as fish feces and marine snow 3) Are relatively unagressive 4) Are fairly easy to keep and maintain in an aquarium They apparantly will grow in large, flat-surface, rather bulbous colonies as well as in large spherical to hemispherical colonies with many finger-like projections. I am not currently a memeber of marinedepot, but I will check out the link and see if it is worth giving them some of my information. Here are some better pics: Link to comment
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