Found tiny dot months ago....now has grown into....?

[MarsRover]

Hey Folks,

I've been meaning to do this for a while now.

Around August, i found on a piece of rubble in my tank, by chance, a pinhead sized orange dot. It was clear it was something that had just sprouted and i was curious about what it was so i decided to cultivate it and see.

It has grown large enough that i think i can reasonably take photos of it. This morning it was feeding and looked so good i decided to start a thread.














Any ideas?

 

[thirdchild]

It's very pretty whatever it is. Can you describe it or take a macro shot? Fleshy body no skeleton like a mushroom? Has a skeleton it retracts into? Does it have stingers?

 

[jsker]

Possibly a rock flower nem. link

 

[MarsRover]

It's very pretty whatever it is. Can you describe it or take a macro shot? Fleshy body no skeleton like a mushroom? Has a skeleton it retracts into? Does it have stingers?

Doesn't appear to be a mushroom of any sort. Its still hard to tell what it is doing when it retracts. It looks like it has a skeleton it retracts into/onto when it gets grumpy from a crab fussing with it. But it also could be just the underlying dead skeleton's features it is showing when it deflates. The underlying skeleton, i don't know what it is. It wasn't mine when it was alive so i have no idea. It looks like a colony type of coral due to the repetitive features on the facets.

As for a macro shot, i still have yet to drop the money on a half decent camera. I'm going to get one of my friends with a macro to come over sometime soon, maybe this week, and take one for me.

Possibly a rock flower nem. link

I really don't think it is a rock flower. I don't know this for sure, but i though rock flowers were nomadic just like all anemone's, meaning they can move. It would be news to me to hear that they grow out of solid rock (Rather than sprouting in loose substrate of some sort) and then stay put for 6+ months as they mature.




Thanks for responding folks. I'm looking forward to seeing what it grows into. From my naked eye, i can say it does seem to have a mouth structure in the center that appears to be more like Acanthophyllia, Trachyphyllia, and lobophyllia. Someone else guessed blastomussa which i was thinking might be too. Ive never had a blasto so i have no idea their habits and am not familar with their structures.


Anyway, i'll see about that Macro!

thanks

 

[MarsRover]

It's very pretty whatever it is. Can you describe it or take a macro shot? Fleshy body no skeleton like a mushroom? Has a skeleton it retracts into? Does it have stingers?

Didn't respond to one of your questions. As for stingers, the stingers it has are in a circular annulus, sort of like how those species i named above, Acanthophyllia, Trachyphyllia, and lobophyllia, and acanthestrea, all have around their mouths. In the pictures, the while/blue arrows/ring is the edge of the mouth. The red outter annulus is the outer body. When it goes to feed, those little tenticles come out from under the flap, all around the white/blue arrow ring.

Dono if that made sense

 

[thirdchild]

Hmmm my guess is a galaxea or even a tiny scolymia if it has a skeleton. If it seems to emerge from a crack in the rock, it could very well be rock anemone or something else squishy. Who knows?

I'll follow and wait for the macro, very curious now.

 

[Salty1962]

May be a Blasto.

 

[MarsRover]

Okay so my buddy with the good camera came over last week after work but forgot a memory card....

But yesterday, my mother came into town to visit and we went to unique corals and she went a little bonkers with getting stuff for my tank while chatting with the owner, Joe. She got me an acanthophyllia....stoked.

Anyway, while I was digging around in my tank to fit the new guys in I moved my frag rack to a better location for iPhone photo.

Attached are good photos

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Looks like an acanthus in thevery new pics. ???

 

[MarsRover]

Looks like an acanthus in thevery new pics. ???

I'm sorry, i don't know what Acanthus in Thevery means?

 

[Leslie Tabor]

I'm sorry, i don't know what Acanthus in Thevery means?

Oops sorry posting from my phone and I didn't proof read...looks like an acan in the new pics.

 

[Tahoe61]

I am going with Micromussa vs Favia. Nice recovery, very pretty.

 

[kashman100]

Mini scoly? I have one that looks like it

 

[Tahoe61]

Looks at the skeleton where the coral is located, that looks like a Micromussa (formally known as Acan) skeleton.

 

[thirdchild]

Nice! Yeah with the better pics, I think it's a micromussa too.

 

[AcroNem]

By looking at the skeleton it's growing from, I'm going to say Blastomussa or Micromussa. Keep feeding it and we'll see as it grows.

 

[MarsRover]

It's growing new mouths! I think this likely removes the possibility of it being an Acanthophyllia, Lobophyllia, and Trachyphyllia. I think it increases the likelihood of Acanthastrea and maybe Blastomussa? Anyone have better ideas now with these new growths?!?!

 

[thirdchild]

I'm going to say favia now. Acans and blastos are puffier. Nice job growing it out though. Very cool!

 

[Bradley Crocker]

Maybe this will help. The number and array of the feeders looks more like an acan, but the acan grows new individual polyps and doesn't share the structure walls like in your skeleton.

Micromussa are very similar, just smaller. Like a quarter next to a penny

Favia have a similar skeleton, but way more tentacles. The do seem to morph new polyps rather than grown individual ones. The polyps are similar in size to the micro, about a penny or dime.

The last is a favia next to a micro

I'm not convinced it's any of the above, but if I had to choose one, it would be favia, solely based on its reproduction.

May I suggest a few searches? http://www.wetwebmedia.com/CnidIndex2.htm
And here http://www.wetwebmedia.com/faviidae.htm
And here http://www.wetwebmedia.com/mussidae.htm

 

[AcroNem]

In all fairness. What was Acanthastrea lordhowensis is now Micromussa lordhowensis, so it's not wrong (; I still say it's a Micromussa species or maybe a Dipsastraea (former Favia)