Palys vs Zoas

kerrysroxy · Jul 17, 2008

How do you tell which is which ?

oceanparadise1 · Jul 17, 2008

Zoas are more flat to the surface palys have a stalk,palys are usually bigger as well

bluering · Jul 17, 2008

What's the difference between a paly and a protopaly??

I bought a nice colony of some huge colonial coral that was sold to me as a button polyp but when I checked zoaid.com/coralpedia.com...they look exactly like Green Palythoa Grandis and Green Implosion. Each of the polyps are about 1/2" to 3/4" round and are getting brighter by the day...in fact, some are turning bluish-white?

Don't know how to post pics but can someone explain if there is a difference between the commonly sold button polyp and a Green Palythoa Grandis?...are they the same thing? If not, how are they different since they look exactly the same.

thanks and sorry for hijacking the thread

oceanparadise1 · Jul 18, 2008

I believe they are they same thing.

Eklikewhoa · Jul 18, 2008

I think they are all classified as the same.

oceanparadise1 · Jul 18, 2008

They are i just did a search, same thing different names. Kinda like twins LOL

gflat65 · Jul 18, 2008

Simply, Palythoa's take in grit into the coenenchyme (mat and stalks) and have a somewhat grain appearance. Zoanthus do not that the grit into their stalks, having a more smooth appearance. Many that are called paly's are actually Zoanthus. PE's started as a Protopaly (or Paly), but are classified as Zoanthus gigantus. Both are zoanthids, though. Zoanthid as a descriptor covers a range of corals in that family (Acrozoanthus, Isaurus, Neozoanthus, Zoanthus, Palythoa, Protopalythoa (which will likely be absorbed into Palythoa whenever they get around to it

), and Parazoanthus.

oceanparadise1 · Jul 18, 2008

Nice explination!

bluering · Jul 19, 2008

Thanks for the verification everyone...that's what it looked like but I wanted to make sure.

bluering · Jul 19, 2008

gflat65 said:
Simply, Palythoa's take in grit into the coenenchyme (mat and stalks) and have a somewhat grain appearance. Zoanthus do not that the grit into their stalks, having a more smooth appearance. Many that are called paly's are actually Zoanthus. PE's started as a Protopaly (or Paly), but are classified as Zoanthus gigantus. Both are zoanthids, though. Zoanthid as a descriptor covers a range of corals in that family (Acrozoanthus, Isaurus, Neozoanthus, Zoanthus, Palythoa, Protopalythoa (which will likely be absorbed into Palythoa whenever they get around to it), and Parazoanthus.

I agree...great info. thanks!