Dumb Question Alert

[Teeka]

Okay, I do feel dumb for even asking this. What is the difference between a paly and a zoo. I Know I have both.

 

[TyreeUM]

thats a good question actually, and a lot of the "coral" we are calling "palys" are actually in the process of being reclassified and will more than likely end up as zoanthids (particularly the ones we like to call "protopalythoa")

 

[J. Montgomery]

Its a source of confusion for me as well. I tend to call everything zoas.

The "best" answer I've heard is that palys incorporate pieces of substrate into their mats, while zoas do not . . .

Personally, I think the classification of corals will be in a constant state of flux for a very long time, until their genomes have been sequences. And I doubt theres a big push in funding for that area of science.

 

[Patwa]

as tyree and josh noted, there is a lot of misinformation out there, coupled with the fact that there is not much CURRENT science being carried out on these corals, with the exception of J. Reimer's work in Japan

from my experience:

Palys
-wider diametre oral disc
-muted colours - earth tones, greens,
-more readily accepting of meaty fare such a mysis and cyclopeeze
-incorporate sand particles into the coenenchyme
-very hardy

Zoas
-smaller diameter oral disc
-high degree of variance in colours and patterns....very colourful specimens hail from places such as Solomon Islands, Fiji
-they exhibit a feeding response when given foods such as mysis and cyclops, however it is unknown whether zoas actually take the food in....it's believed zoanthids are primarily phototrophic
-very hardy, but to a lesser degree than palythoa

Zach

 

[Russellaqua]

I find in general palys tend to be larger and have longer tentacles than zoos, but that's just a generalization. The soft corals overall are a very poorly studied group of animals that aquarium owners are often more familiar with than the scientific community.

 

[Teeka]

Thank you all.

 

[J. Montgomery]

:lol:

You see, thats why I call all of 'em zoas!