Do zoas share resources?

[FloridaMicroReef]

Do Zoas in a colony share resources, or does each polyp fend for itself?

If a single polyp was injured or growing, would other healthy Zoas give it energy? Or do they live and die each on their own?

 

[tnewell]

Do Zoas in a colony share resources, or does each polyp fend for itself?

If a single polyp was injured or growing, would other healthy Zoas give it energy? Or do they live and die each on their own?

I’m curious about this, I have always thought when you feed one polyp. It shares its food with the rest of the colony. Let’s get a real expert though. @footgal

 

[PicassoClown04]

Interesting! I’ve wondered this for a while, not just with zoas but other things too like hammer, Duncan, etc. It would seem that they’re on their own since sometimes there are just a few polyps not doing well, but that doesn’t really make a lot of sense since the zoas in the middle of the colony will no longer produce babies so whatre they doing with all the extra energy that used to go towards babies? I think zoas do share energy because it doesn’t really make sense for them not to. Why would 1p frags have a higher chance of melting than multi polyp frags if it was every zoa for themself? I’m pretty sure the whole theory behind 2+ polyp frags having a higher survival rate is because the zoas share energy . Also, larger colonies grow faster which would make sense of zoas shared energy. All speculation, but I think it makes sense!

 

[Oscar47f]

Agreed with the above I believe they do as well that’s what the connective tissue between them is for... if not it wouldnt be there IMO, Duncan’s and hammers don’t because once they split the tissue only goes about an inch into the skeleton so there no connective tissue between heads....

 

[Llyod276]

Maybe maybe maybe not. There was an article about zoas and palys that differtiated the two on the actual polyp tube/stalk- root(?) type. Some are attached and some are singular. It would make sense that single attached or no communal root(?) would be fend for themselves. However, in a communal setting the sharing of energy may occur.
As far as euphylia go the skeleton below the [head] would be as far as the communal area goes, otherwise you could never frag, it would die immediately and kill the rest of the host organism.
Even xenias, which are highly communal still grow separate attached polyps of a central stalk(?) and as such do share resources another mouth means more energy.
I guess the better answer is is that being genetic clones they[corals] will not actively attack each other and thus are able to grow and flourish vs. different corals even if the same family will still compete, theres even an article here about two different cloves and one is outcomepeting the other. Same family, still aggression.