What the heck are these?, need ID please.

[SnoopDog]

The only reason I think it is a baby Rock Anemone is the fingers are bulbed out quite a bit.

 

[Anonymous]

I gather you weren't aware that Discosoma spp. have sweeper tentacles. :wink:

mario

Well, I dont know every thing about discosoma spp. I do however have 9 species of them in my softy tank and have definately never seen tentacles like that on any of them. I also have never seen many mouths on one like that before. If you could show me a picture of a mushroom with tentacles like a brain and the oral disk characteristics of a pectina or murilina please do.

Well then I think you and Matt should curl up with some good coral books and read them.
The family Discosomatidae consists of at least 4 generi Actinodiscus, Amplexidiscus, Discosoma and Rhodactis all technically called Discosoma.
One species is Discosoma calgreni that has thick square shaped irregular peripheral tentacles that may sting and are capabale of forming a type of sweeper tentacle.............
Another species Discosoma sanctithomae has marginal tentacles that have a potential sting as they enlarge with acrospheres much like sweeper tentacles of stony corals.........
I could go on but I don't want to have to do all the research for you.
This is excerpted from Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman and if you do a Google you'll come up with more examples.

mario

 

[Anonymous]

Fair enough. However both those species are from the caribbean and none of them look like the polyp pictured in the first picture. Also, they form enlarged tentacles much LIKE sweepers in LPS, but not the sweepers that LPS put out.

I'll stick with my guess of an LPS. Only time is going to tell.

 

[Anonymous]

Fair enough. However both those species are from the caribbean and none of them look like the polyp pictured in the first picture. Also, they form enlarged tentacles much LIKE sweepers in LPS, but not the sweepers that LPS put out.

I'll stick with my guess of an LPS. Only time is going to tell.

I only mentioned 2 species, there are more. Since cvp7900 is from Lousiana
we don't know that her rock is not Florida aquacultured do we?

mario

 

[trido]

Well then I think you and Matt should curl up with some good coral books and read them.
The family Discosomatidae consists of at least 4 generi Actinodiscus, Amplexidiscus, Discosoma and Rhodactis all technically called Discosoma.
One species is Discosoma calgreni that has thick square shaped irregular peripheral tentacles that may sting and are capabale of forming a type of sweeper tentacle.............
Another species Discosoma sanctithomae has marginal tentacles that have a potential sting as they enlarge with acrospheres much like sweeper tentacles of stony corals.........
I could go on but I don't want to have to do all the research for you.
This is excerpted from Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman and if you do a Google you'll come up with more examples.

mario

I actually do have that book, and I did a google for discosoma spp. before I replied and asked for a picture. All of the ones that I came up with looked exactly like the ones I have in my tank. I will give you credit where deserved though. You have some valid quotes from a great book and you stated that you dont like do coral IDs as a rule ( likely so this doesnt happen ). But, you never did address the multiple mouths or provide a picture of something similar though.

I hope you realize, Im just picking on you for entertainment now. Were all here to try to help each other. Actually, you have sparked my curiosity in this matter. Now I must research.

 

[Anonymous]

I think the first shroomy looking one is Echinophyllia - Chrissy try and get a pic when it is not pumped up.

 

[SnowManSnow]

Hmmm.....
Can it be a blasto??? Looks a lot like my blastomussa wellise (spelling). Hard to tell though.

I really don't think its palythoa ... but its JMO.

Interesting there was a guy here a week or so ago that did have a blasto HH on his LR.

B

 

[Anonymous]

Well then I think you and Matt should curl up with some good coral books and read them.
The family Discosomatidae consists of at least 4 generi Actinodiscus, Amplexidiscus, Discosoma and Rhodactis all technically called Discosoma.
One species is Discosoma calgreni that has thick square shaped irregular peripheral tentacles that may sting and are capabale of forming a type of sweeper tentacle.............
Another species Discosoma sanctithomae has marginal tentacles that have a potential sting as they enlarge with acrospheres much like sweeper tentacles of stony corals.........
I could go on but I don't want to have to do all the research for you.
This is excerpted from Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman and if you do a Google you'll come up with more examples.

mario

I actually do have that book, and I did a google for discosoma spp. before I replied and asked for a picture. All of the ones that I came up with looked exactly like the ones I have in my tank. I will give you credit where deserved though. You have some valid quotes from a great book and you stated that you dont like do coral IDs as a rule ( likely so this doesnt happen ). But, you never did address the multiple mouths or provide a picture of something similar though.

I hope you realize, Im just picking on you for entertainment now. Were all here to try to help each other. Actually, you have sparked my curiosity in this matter. Now I must research.

And so am I.
I never said I don't like to do coral ID's; I try to avoid doing them because most of the time the thread reverts to something like this one.
We're looking at a low resolution picture on a computer trying to ID a coral that most experts need to disect in order to narrow it down to genus and species.
If you truly are going to research deeper into this then I believe I've done my job.
btw Matt and cvp7900 know who I really am. :wink:

mario

 

[Anonymous]

Santa? 8O

 

[Anonymous]

Crissy, can you wave your hand in front of this coral to produce some current around it, then snap a photo? Does it look like it's "glued" to the rock? Are the edges of it attached to the rock, or does it come from a central stalk like a mushroom coral?

Damnit, more photos woman! I know you're pregnant and all (congrats, btw) but satisfy our curiousity!

 

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry guys, I'm still trying to let the shock wear off. I will snap pic night. Actually, I will go for lunch and snap a few.

Thanks All!!

 

[Anonymous]

Here they are:

 

[Concrete]

That looks like some sort of mushroom to me- I saved a couple of pics and took a closer look in photo-shop. It looks like it has a Ricordia type mouth/body shape.


Cool whatever it is- Awesome freebie.

 

[Anonymous]

kinda looks like a pavona that's growing back.

B

 

[Anonymous]

I still go with LPS. I often seen tiny round skeletons remains on live rock. The skeletons are ridged just like fungias. I can find them as small as a pea or as large as a half dollar. I am betting yours it just one of those that lived.

Echinophyllia/morpha or fungia.

 

[Anonymous]

I've got a dollar on Fungia too. Just a hunch. Crissy does it have a hard skeleton?

 

[bleedingthought]

I'll go ahead and agree with a couple of posts here: Whatever it is, it looks pretty sweet! 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Why don't you piss it off and see what happens when it retracts. That will tell a lot.

 

[Anonymous]

It doesn't retract per say. It might get a little smaller but not much.

Matt, what do you mean hard skeleton? Like underneath it. The edges flop around a tiny bit if I swish water over it.

 

[Anonymous]

It doesn't retract per say. It might get a little smaller but not much.

Matt, what do you mean hard skeleton? Like underneath it. The edges flop around a tiny bit if I swish water over it.

Well it's probably really hard to tell since it's so tiny, and I don't suggest actually prodding it. You've seen what a closed up mushroom/zoanthid looks like right? When you piss it off, does it do that, or do the margins simply shrink in a bit?