Plate coral rising from the dead?

jd371 · Sep 22, 2018

This was my plate coral last month. It eventually perished and all that was left was a skeleton so instead of tossing it I moved it to the back of the tank out of sight.

Last week I was doing some cleaning in the tank when I noticed the plate coral had some growths on it. Anybody know what these things are?
Sorry for the dim image, lights were ramping down.

WV Reefer · Sep 22, 2018

jd371 said:
This was my plate coral last month. It eventually perished and all that was left was a skeleton so instead of tossing it I moved it to the back of the tank out of sight.

Last week I was doing some cleaning in the tank when I noticed the plate coral had some growths on it. Anybody know what these things are?
Sorry for the dim image, lights were ramping down.

Typically the entire skeleton will grow a bunch of baby plates.

Timfish1 · Sep 22, 2018

Congradulations! You're a grandparent.

Those are called "anthocauli", specialized structures that are capable of growing juvenile polyps as well as budding new anthocauli. It can take a year or more for the new polyp to grow to the point where it drops off the anthocauli. In most cases the anthocauli will start growing a new polyp with in a couple weeks.

jd371 · Sep 24, 2018

WV Reefer said:
Typically the entire skeleton will grow a bunch of baby plates.

I've heard of this and that's what crossed my mind when I first saw it.

Timfish1 said:
Congradulations! You're a grandparent. Those are called "anthocauli", specialized structures that are capable of growing juvenile polyps as well as budding new anthocauli. It can take a year or more for the new polyp to grow to the point where it drops off the anthocauli. In most cases the anthocauli will start growing a new polyp with in a couple weeks.

Thanks! I have since moved it from the back of the tank to a spot where I can keep an eye on it.

WV Reefer · Sep 24, 2018

jd371 said:
I've heard of this and that's what crossed my mind when I first saw it.

Thanks! I have since moved it from the back of the tank to a spot where I can keep an eye on it.

Keep us updated! I want to see all the little babies!

Daniel@R2R · Sep 24, 2018

Cool! Congrats on baby plates!

jd371 · Sep 25, 2018

Thanks guys, I will update when I see changes.

Pola0502ds · Sep 25, 2018

Anyone have any pictures of this happening to a plate coral that actually has a bunch of babies on it? Would love to see it

cycled123 · Sep 25, 2018

I hope I get babies eventually. Lost all my plates in June when went on vacation.

Robert Kugler · Sep 25, 2018

Darn, i have thrown mine away in the past, but i have 1 still in there that just died and another one that is half dead. I will not be removing them any more

vetteguy53081 · Sep 25, 2018

I have a club member with similar experience. Used the dead plate to clock a hole in rocks and babies reimerged from it.

gig 'em · Sep 25, 2018

@FarmerTy has had this happen to his plate, it has now populated half the reef tanks in our region with home grown plates! Best of luck with yours

Marie7 · Sep 25, 2018

It's coming back, they tend to have the ability of come back and have babies as in this case

jd371 · Sep 28, 2018

Took some more pics with better light this time. The babies look a lot puffier than last time.

Played around with the camera filters and a photo bomb from the Dragonet.

WV Reefer · Sep 28, 2018

jd371 said:
Took some more pics with better light this time. The babies look a lot puffier than last time.

Played around with the camera filters and a photo bomb from the Dragonet.

Yay!!! Thats a good sign.

FarmerTy · Sep 28, 2018

gig 'em said:
@FarmerTy has had this happen to his plate, it has now populated half the reef tanks in our region with home grown plates! Best of luck with yours

Here you go. Old pic of the mother plate. I would guess over 100 plates have spawned from this over the years.