Minabea or Nephthyigorgia?

[mjc]

I have a what I believe is a red finger coral (Nephthyigorgia sp.) that is approximately 12" tall and 1/2" in thickness with six branches, each approximately 5 to 6" in length. Rather than producing white polyps, it produces clear, translucent polyps which leads me to believe it's a Minabea. However, my understanding Minbeas are rather small, approximately 1" in length. Anyone can shed some light on this?

In addition, one section of the branch is receeding. I caught my cleaner shrimp clawing away at it one evening, followed by my coral beauty and now the coral tissue is gone, the skeleton is exposed and the coral is listing at approximately a 45-degree angle. Can anyone tell me if I can cut off the branch and affix it onto a rock?

Thanks,

Marty

 

[Eric Borneman]

Hi Marty:

We'll have to get started somewhere on this, so, if you would answer the following:

Is the coral rough or smooth?
Is it soft and fleshy or firm?
Can you see sclerites in the tissue?
Does the colony contract much?
Do the polyps retract, contract, fold up, or none of the above?
Does the colony branch?
How many orders of branching?
Do the polyps arise on the main stalk, first order branches, second order branches, third order branches?

 

[mjc]

1. I characterize it as smooth, while others may view it as rough.
2. Firm
3. Negative, can't say I can.
4. The colony does not contract.
5. the polyps are usually retracted. When contracted, they're translucent, about 1 to 2mm in length.
6. Yes, the colony is currenrly branched. About 1" at the base with three or four branches and these branches have one or two.
7. See #6
8. intereating questio, I've seen the polyps on the "main branch" and what I would characterize the "second branch order".

I'll send you a picture of the coral through your private email, or, if I can figure how to post, I'll include it here.

Marty

 

[Eric Borneman]

Wow. talk about some indefinite possibilities!! LOL

OK, so, look carfully when you touch a polyp. Does it pull all the way back into the stalk, or does it sort of just fold up or contract or "deflate". Compare the smoothness or roughness with something common that we both would be familiar with...fruits, vegetables, plants, etc.

And by the colony not contracting, just want to make sure...I don;t mean fall flaccid..I mean, at night or during the day, when the polyps are in (provided they go in), does the colony sort of become lumpy or shrunken or do those branches always look just the same way only the polyps are either in or out?

Picture will be great!

 

[mjc]

yes, my kids say it reminds them of the red vines candy!

In any case, I sent you a zipped file containing several pictures of the coral.

When touching the polyps, which btw are far and few, they sort of deflate.

When looking at the branch, one would suppose they have a certain roughness feel to them when compared to the skin of a fruit. I'd say they feel more like a kiwi vis-avis an apple.

The colonies don't shrivel or become flacid, they stay erect ...

Regards,

Marty

 

[Eric Borneman]

Marty:

got your pictures.

what you have there is neither Minabea or Nepthyigorgia. What you have is a sponge. In the aquarium trade, its commonly called an orange or red tree sponge.

 

[jamesw]

Woohoo! Mystery solved...or is it? (Asks inspector Poirot).

Does a sponge have "polyps" that can close???

Are you sure you sent Eric the right photo Marty??? Maybe you sent him a photo of a sponge instead by clicking on the wrong file perhaps???

Cheers
James Wiseman

 

[jamesw]

Here's a photo of the critter in question which Eric received from MJC and sent to me to post:

Look familiar?

Cheers
James

 

[mjc]

Hi James - thanks for asking, it's the only recent photo shoot I have of my tank.

In my email to Eric, I mentioned that the LFS clerk said it might be a sponge, but had no idea what type (P/T after school job for someone I presume) ...it was received with a few gorgonias and he thought it might be related.

Eric - I'm not sure if you could see it, but in one of the photos, 0380, one could see some polyps, albeit 1 to 2mm ih length. It's difficult to ascertain due to see some detrius floating in the background (thanks to a yellow head goby).

Back to my (now revised) question ...I assume then, there's not a way for one to prune a sponge?

Thanks again.

 

[Eric Borneman]

Marty:

I looked really cloely at 380 and do not see any polyps. Sometimes, sponges act as hosts for certain zoanthids that live commensally on their surface, but I don;t se this in your sponge, nor is this sponge usually one associated with zoanthids.

There are several areas where the tissue is falling apart, and this appearance is very common in these sponges. They don't tend to do very well in tanks, and the best I have ever done is simply getting them to die slower rather than faster. Sure, yu can fragment a sponge. In fact, you could break it up into little pieces if you wanted. Sponges are basically organized accumulations of cells that lack distinct tissue layers . Then you'll have a lot of small sponges slowly dying rather than just one ;-)

 

[mjc]

<sigh> thanks for the info ...better to know than not.

The good thing I noted from this, if you closely at the base of the sponge are clams. My daughter noted two of them opening and closing the other day and I hung around to observe amd sure enough, one of them opened to clear some sand away. I can't tell what type, but out of curiosity can they be dislodged at this point? They appear to be attached to the rock they're on.