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Palythoa - Detritus Eater


charnelhouse

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Posted

Sorry, no pics to accompany, just the story. It's not BS though...

 

I was observing my tank with a magnifying glass this afternoon and happened to be looking in the right place at the right time. I noticed the shed skin of one of my resident, roughly flea sized, amphipods drift into the skirt of some (IdontKnowtheirName) Paly's.

 

Within about 5 seconds the head it had landed on closed up around the discarded exoskeleton. I continued to watch through the magnifying glass for the next few minutes until the head slowly unfurled again, and the skin was gone.

 

I could clearly see that the mouth of that head was somewhat distended, but returning to normal dimensions. It was pretty cool seeing the feeding response, but I expected it to be rejected as food since there was no real meaty substance. I was wrong though, the detritus was definitely eaten!

 

We can now add Palythoa to our CUC list :D

Posted

I saw a large pally eating a small clown at the lfs a few weeks ago. Not sure if the clown died and happened to fall into the pally, or if the pally caught a living clown, but it was half inside the palley when I saw it

Posted

I saw a large pally eating a small clown at the lfs a few weeks ago. Not sure if the clown died and happened to fall into the pally, or if the pally caught a living clown, but it was half inside the palley when I saw it

 

That's pretty wild. My guess is the clown died. I don't think paly's have the sting to take down a live fish...

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

palytoxin can take down a live human!

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