different feeding strategies in corals

[MaxM]

I'm curious about the various adaptations among different corals. Best example I have is my toadstool has long tentacles out during the day and completely retracts them at night whereas my bubble coral has its fleshy bits inflated during the day and feeder tentacles out at night. I get that daytime is optimal for photosynthesis but why would my toadstool close up at night?

What's known about the biology of various non-photosynthetic eating strategies among corals?

 

[KrisReef]

Not too long ago science said that reefs were oasis’s in a desert of nutrient scarce waters. Then someone did a plankton tow at night and it seems that the opinion of scientists changed towards a frugal environment with lots of nutrient cycles between critters that live on a reef.

I don’t know why your leather is opening and closing with the light. It might be interesting to see if it opened up if you add plankton into the tank water at night.

I’ve observed bubble corals switching tentacles to night feeding mode when plankton was added to the water during the day.

I have a blue ridge coral heliopora(?) that almost never has the tentacles out but has been growing like a weed for the past 5 years. Not sure why, the tank has high nutrients and moderate flow a very high par exposure for 9 hours each day.