Anyone up for a coral ID?

[Anonymous]

This was a hitchhiker with my first set of live rock (despite me thinking it was completely devoid of life). It's hardly grown for a while, but I've just had a minor reorganisation of rock and, as a result, it's now much easier to take a photo of. I also have an opportunity to put it in a place that's more suitable to encourage it to grow. A friend suggested it might be a Colt Coral, but I know that's a name used for a variety of coral. Any ideas what it might be? Click on the image to expand it.

[rimg]http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab238/TheEscapedApe/Long%20awaited/P1010041.jpg[/rimg]

 

[Anonymous]

It almost looks like a type of majano anemone I've seen-can you tell if it has a skeleton?

 

[Anonymous]

Huh? Which picture are you seeing? The new type of majano can't look much like the old type of majano if it looks like this. :?

Have you tried clicking on the photo twice (once to open in a new frame and once again to blow it up to full size)? It has polyps, not tentacles. Or at least, that's what I see. Have you any pics of this new majano? Color me completely confused. :?

BTW, I do have something which looks a bit like a majano in the tank, which I might have posted before. But it does have a hard skeleton, so I've left it in the tank. Here's a new shot - you can see in one of the lower polyps some white lines radiating out from the center. That's the skeleton. I think they're dwarf cup coral, something like Phyllangia sp. maybe.

[rimg]http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab238/TheEscapedApe/Long%20awaited/P1010048.jpg[/rimg]

 

[Anonymous]

Like colt coral, majano is more of a catch all.

It looks similar to this:

Of course I haven't had any coffee yet ...

 

[Anonymous]

They look like they have a skeleton and are not anemones.

 

[Ben1]

Is the skeleton hard where it could be pocillipora?

 

[Anonymous]

Like colt coral, majano is more of a catch all.

It looks similar to this:

Of course I haven't had any coffee yet ...

Thanks Tracy, but to my mind that looks completely different. Get some caffeine in you!

 

[Anonymous]

Is the skeleton hard where it could be pocillipora?

Thanks Ben. That's what I thought when I first saw it, but I've since checked and it's not hard. I wondered maybe if it was a leather of some description, but I can't see what it could be yet.

 

[Ben1]

Hmm then possibly a sinularia sp, IMO

 

[Len]

I say sinularia too (if it's soft).

 

[Anonymous]

Poke it with a stick.

No, seriously - I'd like to see what it looks like with polyps retracted

 

[blackcloudmedia]

Is this Carribbean live rock? It looks like the young stage of the brain corals that are everywhere down there.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. It's definitely soft, so Sinularia sounds like a good guess. The live rock is from Okinawa, so the range is very much Indo Pacific. I'll try and get a photo later of it with the polyps retracted.

 

[Anonymous]

A couple of pics for you. The first was taken after one touch with my feeding tongs, the second after another touch. I'm posting both as the first makes it a bit easier to see the retracting polyps, but the second is closer to the fully retracted state. Remember, click twice to expand to full size.

[rimg]http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab238/TheEscapedApe/Long%20awaited/P1010040.jpg?t=1288272767[/rimg]

[rimg]http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab238/TheEscapedApe/Long%20awaited/P1010041-1.jpg?t=1288272767[/rimg]

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting. Young or Blushing coral, cladiella spp maybe? See http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pcatid=650 for a photo if you don't know it.

 

[Anonymous]

My first thought was Cladiella or Capnella, but could be any old softie.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I ain't trying to be definitive

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks all. An educated guess is still better than what I had to begin with (an uneducated guess).