I feel stupid asking this question.....

[ZoWhat]

I know all hard coral has a skeleton made up of calcium carbonate..... hense calcium ions bonding with carbonate ions

But what are Soft Tissue corals (like zoas/palys) made up of? What's the build blocks of the actual tissue?



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[Crabs McJones]

I know all hard coral has a skeleton made up 9f calcium carbonate..... hense calcium ions bonding with carbonate

But what are Soft Tissue corals (like zoas/palys) made up of?



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Good question. This is what I could find on it:
soft corals have a flexible skeleton, made of a protein called gorgonin. Their skeleton also contains calcium carbonate, but only in small clumps called spicules

 

[ZoWhat]

soft corals have a flexible skeleton, made of a protein called gorgonin.

So how is gorgonin built?

I guess what I'm REALLY AFTER is what element can accelerate tissue growth?

For me, Wendy's Double Hamgurgers, BK triple Whoppers....grow my tissue. Lol

 

[Crabs McJones]

So how is gorgonin built?

Lol I'm not really sure how to explain it. Give this a read through and see I'd that explains it better than I can

 

[ZoWhat]

I guess what I'm REALLY AFTER is what element can accelerate tissue growth?

For me, Wendy's Double Hamburgers, BK Triple Whoppers, McDs Double Quaterpounders......all grow my tissue. Lol

 

[Crabs McJones]

I guess what I'm REALLY AFTER is what element can accelerate tissue growth?

For me, Wendy's Double Hamburgers, BK Triple Whoppers, McDs Double Quaterpounders......all grow my tissue. Lol

Ha! I have the same issue my friend

 

[ZoWhat]

I'm confused as heck.

Quoting wiki
"most soft corals thrive in nutrient-rich waters with less intense light. Almost all use symbiotic photosynthesizing zooxanthella as a major energy source."

That's like saying to get a deep tan, sit in indirect sunlight under an umbrella

what the heck....

 

[Katrina71]

Kinda like they need nitrates and your tank light to digest those

 

[Katrina71]

Like I grow on cookies and need a nap to digest them

 

[Katrina71]

Zooxanthella are single cell photosynthetic organisms that need your light. The soft corals can't process nitrates without them. Almost like a termite would starve if it weren't for a similar relationship. This is the way I understand it anyway. Feel free to educate me if I'm wrong.

 

[ZoWhat]

symbiotic photosynthesizing zooxanthella

These 3 words are really close to using all the letters in the alphabet

 

[Katrina71]

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

 

[ZoWhat]

Feel free to educate me if I'm wrong.

If you were on Reef Central, you'd be told you're WRONG in about 17 different ways. Lol

 

[Katrina71]

If you were on Reef Central, you'd be told you're WRONG in about 17 different ways. Lol

I'm cool with being wrong. ONCE. Lol!

 

[Katrina71]

Seriously, this is the way I have translated what I have read. If I'm wrong... I'd like to learn.

 

[ZoWhat]

.

Makes sense so you get a gold star cookie

 

[Katrina71]

Cookie;Joyful

 

[ksanfranfan]

I don't think it's a stupid question at all. Eric Borne man's book " Aquarium Corals " is one of several good books on just about everything you want to know about most if not all coral species.
Anyways, the simple answer is that soft corals use calcium carbonate differently. They have small skeletal pieces called sclerites or spicules embedded in the body. Instead of being composed of aragonite used in stoney corals, soft corals are composed of calcite.
The spicules are manufactured in the epidermis cells. Some soft corals form calcified structures to anchor themselves to structures and others might produce rod like internal supports to stay erect.
Species such as zoas and palys even incorporate sand, sediment and rocks for support.

If you want to know even more without reading some of the written material in books on the subject you can check out small articles from these links:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21768106/

https://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/octocorals-found-to-be-reef-builders

 

[Katrina71]

@ksanfranfan I just got that book 3 days ago! Any other books you recommend?

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'm confused as heck.

Quoting wiki
"most soft corals thrive in nutrient-rich waters with less intense light. Almost all use symbiotic photosynthesizing zooxanthella as a major energy source."

That's like saying to get a deep tan, sit in indirect sunlight under an umbrella

what the heck....

Jim, good analogy! ;Bookworm

I think that when they said "less intense light" they mean when compared to stony corals. Not "less intense' as in really dim light. Zoas do well with PAR levels in the 100 to 200 range. The stony corals like a bit more.

This is just guess work on my part, but I wonder if they have so much more zooxanthellae in their fleshy polyps than sps corals with such tiny polyps, that they can do more photosynthesis and therefore need less light?