If you have 2 corals combine???

[am3gross]

I have 2 SPS corals that may have combined them selves. I don't want to name the corals just yet, but I am wondering what you have to do to actually name a morphed coral. I knew a guy back in the day that had to send it off some where and they had to recreate the coral and confirm that in fact, it was something never seen before. I know alot of people just name there stuff what ever they want, but I feel this is different. Any insight in this?


Thanks

Mike

 

[GlassMunky]

I knew a guy back in the day that had to send it off some where and they had to recreate the coral and confirm that in fact, it was something never seen before.

This isn’t really a thing. There’s no official expert on corals to send things to to be “confirmed”

And the only thing you could even confirm would be the genetics of it which we don’t have any sort of lists to compare to anyway so would be just as useless information.


I think if you actually think you have something special the first thing to do would be to show it and explain what happened. See if anyone else has had the same thing happen.

But I’m pretty sure that 2 separate species of corals can’t “combine” by fusing together and then have a new coral species made.

Maybe 2 genotypes of the same species could fuse together but even then it’ll be hard to say if that will grow out and still have any variability from the original. So you would need to take lots of pieces of frags and see what happens to them.

 

[Borat]

I have 2 SPS corals that may have combined them selves. I don't want to name the corals just yet, but I am wondering what you have to do to actually name a morphed coral. I knew a guy back in the day that had to send it off some where and they had to recreate the coral and confirm that in fact, it was something never seen before. I know alot of people just name there stuff what ever they want, but I feel this is different. Any insight in this?


Thanks

Mike

If you have a picture making device - please show us a picture!

 

[QuickrdenU]

You’ve grafted 2 corals. Name it something silly starting with “Ultra” and your initals, cut off a pinky nail sized piece, and post for sale at $1999.00

 

[Curiousbranching]

Congrat
Show us some pictures

 

[am3gross]

Congrat
Show us some pictures

Cant show pictures, mostly because I cant get a good one.

But also because I kinda want to wait and see if this is really what I think it is. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up! Including mine.

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

IMO, If you are suggesting that the coral became a new species somehow, then the scientific community would certainly like to see it.
If it's two corals growing next to, or into each other, then it is still two separate coral (like red and green monti caps, etc).
If the colors from coral one are starting to appear in the other, then that is a grafted coral from shared zooxanthellae, and those are usually given a fancy name by the retailer who sells them.

 

[Troylee]

 

[GlassMunky]

You’ve grafted 2 corals. Name it something silly starting with “Ultra” and your initals, cut off a pinky nail sized piece, and post for sale at $1999.00

Technically it’s not grafted either since grafting implies it was done on purpose with human intervention
Example : skin graft

 

[GlassMunky]

Graft
Noun

“MEDICINE
a piece of living tissue that is transplanted surgically.”

 

[GlassMunky]

IMO, If you are suggesting that the coral became a new species somehow, then the scientific community would certainly like to see it.
If it's two corals growing next to, or into each other, then it is still two separate coral (like red and green monti caps, etc).
If the colors from coral one are starting to appear in the other, then that is a grafted coral from shared zooxanthellae, and those are usually given a fancy name by the retailer who sells them.

I believe This would be more akin to horizontal gene transfer

 

[am3gross]

I can say this, I did not plan for it to happen.

My wife who was taking care of the system for the 6 months while I was away, would frag stuff "accidentally" when she would get in there for any kind of maintenance. Im not mad about it at all. Well I am assuming that one of the pieces she fragged made its way into another coral. And now they are growing together. I cant see the base of the coral, to see what is actually going on and It would be impossible for me to take the rock out with out tearing down the entire systems. So its a waiting game to see. I know they are touching, touching a lot. So for now, I am just going to give them there privacy and see what they give me. I was just trying to get some info on what if anything I should be doing to document it, so if it is in fact the new fancy thing on the market, then I will be ahead of the curve.

 

[blecki]

So it's just two pieces of SPS that aren't trying to murder each other. That's not uncommon, not everything in the ocean is a homicidal maniac.

 

[Acros]

Sometimes two acropora can grow next to each other without killing either. It is not necessarily grafted or becoming one (although that can also happen).

 

[386reeftrader]

What are the corals? That should give an idea whether or not there’s any chance of a fusion.

 

[GlassMunky]

I can say this, I did not plan for it to happen.

My wife who was taking care of the system for the 6 months while I was away, would frag stuff "accidentally" when she would get in there for any kind of maintenance. Im not mad about it at all. Well I am assuming that one of the pieces she fragged made its way into another coral. And now they are growing together. I cant see the base of the coral, to see what is actually going on and It would be impossible for me to take the rock out with out tearing down the entire systems. So it’s a waiting game to see. I know they are touching, touching a lot. So for now, I am just going to give them their privacy and see what they give me. I was just trying to get some info on what if anything I should be doing to document it, so if it is in fact the new fancy thing on the market, then I will be ahead of the curve.

What you should be doing to document IMO is start taking pictures the best you can so you can show what changes happen over time. Then once it’s being enough to frag take a piece and grow that out and see if it’s the same or different than the original

 

[exnisstech]

Until we see evidence, this does not exist

 

[QuickrdenU]

Graft
Noun

“MEDICINE
a piece of living tissue that is transplanted surgically.”

Thanks grammar police. TSA has spoken about how they intentionally graft corals and how sometimes it happens naturally due to being kept in high numbers and within close proximity as is the case in an aquaculture farm environment.

 

[QuickrdenU]

Regardless, OP has not “created a new species of coral.” When a person can create something, anything, absolutely anything, let me know.

The chances you became God overnight or discovered a “missing link” type scenario in your tank are extremely low.

 

[Aquariumaddictuk]

You’ve grafted 2 corals. Name it something silly starting with “Ultra” and your initals, cut off a pinky nail sized piece, and post for sale at $1999.00

Why not!many big name coral purveyors have/do.
Alternatively-become a folk hero & send us all a frag for our own independent research!