ID help please

shells4 · Mar 8, 2014

Does anyone have any idea what this might be?

Reefing Madness · Mar 10, 2014

Tahoe61 · Mar 10, 2014

I believe it's a rare type of sponge that you just do not see that often. People actually pay for it. Does it have a leathery texture?

shells4 · Mar 10, 2014

Not leathery at all. It actually is hard. When we tried to cut a piece of it to frag it was very brittle, like a potato chip. It is very thin. We thought it was a encrusting monti for a long time but pretty sure it isn't anymore. It has feeding tentacles that are out most of the time. Usually they are about 1/2" long but when we put phytoplankton in the tank they often reach 2"-3". We had a reef club meeting at our house and no one knew what it was. Also our local coral shop owner has no idea. Unfortunately this is one of the best pictures we have been able to get of it. We have had people offer to pay for a start of it. Only recently have we been able to get two tiny starts of it and we are going to hold on to them until they grow out a bit and we can get more frags. We love the piece and won't cut it up.

ritter6788 · Mar 10, 2014

IPost a pic with the tentacles out if you can.

Tahoe61 · Mar 10, 2014

shells4 said:
Not leathery at all. It actually is hard. When we tried to cut a piece of it to frag it was very brittle, like a potato chip. It is very thin. We thought it was a encrusting monti for a long time but pretty sure it isn't anymore. It has feeding tentacles that are out most of the time. Usually they are about 1/2" long but when we put phytoplankton in the tank they often reach 2"-3". We had a reef club meeting at our house and no one knew what it was. Also our local coral shop owner has no idea. Unfortunately this is one of the best pictures we have been able to get of it. We have had people offer to pay for a start of it. Only recently have we been able to get two tiny starts of it and we are going to hold on to them until they grow out a bit and we can get more frags. We love the piece and won't cut it up.

Well than I have no clue. :noidea:

But my curiosity is soooooo peaked.

Maybe Hunter or Frick will happen by. I would sure like to know.

shells4 · Mar 10, 2014

I will try to get a closer picture but have not had success yet. When I zoom in it gets to blurry to see. Tentacles are very thin and almost translucent. Tahoe 61, I have been trying to find out what it is for the last couple of years with no success. About 6 months after buying this piece of live rock we noticed a tiny fleck of blue, about the size of a BB. Over 2 1/2 years it has grown to this size, approximately 10"x 8". It is pretty hardy, one of the few survivors of a tank crash. Thanks for the responses!

shells4 · Mar 10, 2014

One other interesting aspects of this coral. Even though it has touched other rocks for some time it doesn't seem to grow onto them. It has grown underneath the rock it is on and seems to thrive on the bottom of the rock even in the low light.

Tahoe61 · Mar 11, 2014

I see that Dr. J.E.N Veron has a FB page, you might try there. I am going to dig around in Dr. Veron's Corals of the World.

bct15 · Mar 11, 2014

I seem something get posted on Facebook the other day very similar to this, it was a sea pansy. That may not be exactly what it is, but start there and I think you will find it.

Diamond1 · Mar 11, 2014

Possibly a species of Oxypora.

evolved · Mar 11, 2014

Tahoe61 said:
Well than I have no clue. :noidea:

But my curiosity is soooooo peaked.

Maybe Hunter or Frick will happen by. I would sure like to know.

I don't; I'm perplexed at this one.

Diamond1 said:
Possibly a species of Oxypora.

Could be...

NanaReefer · Mar 11, 2014

Sort of looks like my Blasto Merriletti when its all closed up.
Pic fully opened.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1394562213.196900.jpg

shells4 · Mar 11, 2014

KoleTang · Mar 11, 2014

Whatever it is, it doesn't look like anything I've seen in the hobby trade. A marine biologist may be able to identify it.

In that second pic (in your most recent post), it resembles a leptosaris. But when you zoom out it has a strange vain-y pattern, almost like a gorganian is laying on it.

shells4 · Mar 11, 2014

Not the best pictures and the coral wasn't cooperating today

Sorry. NanaReefer--don't think it is a blasto but I can see the similarity when it is closed up. This coral doesn't really open and close. I don't think it is a sea pansy either. The info I read on the sea pansy said they usually grow on sandy or muddy ocean floor. This coral is very, very thin and encrust every crevice of the rock it is growing on. It looks like the sea pansy swells up when feeding also, this coral just sends out some tentacles, mostly along the edge of the coral, occasionally you can see some tentacles in the middle but that isn't common. Diamond 1--I did see a couple of images of the oxypora that reminded me of this coral but I am doubtful that it is. The oxypora (challis) have eyes or corallites that this does not have. I may have to try Dr. J.E.N Veron facebook page or website.

shells4 · Mar 11, 2014

Kole Tang, The brief bit of info I have googled since your post does remind me of the veiny pattern. The paragraph I read said it does better in low light and low flow and doesn't have any sweeper tentacles or stinging capabilities. Ours has the best color and fastest growth under moderately high lights and high flow. It obviously has the sweeper tentacles also. I must say though that so far that this photo comes the closest to anything I have found. Hopeful I can post this photo here since I didn't take it. Sorry if I am not allowed to.

The image stated it is a

Leptoseris mycetoseroides . Still not quite the same, although I know there are many variables.