protopaly

[Wiz]

If you consider morphs, its possible all zoas are the same isn't it? I mean the only real differences are skirt and color which are both subject to change in any zoa. Right?

 

[Dec]

For the most part there are probably a few different scientific species people classify as Zoa (not sure) and of course there are palys which are similar to Zoas but scientifically a different species.

 

[shred5]

Well palythoa are pretty unmistakable because they are different. You see them in the Caribbean all the time especially off the Miami coast.
Protopalythoa and Zoanthids are pretty close and the longer they are in the aquarium sometimes the more they look alike.
In general protopalythoa are larger and usually have longer stalks, they also incorporate sand in them. Zoas are usually smaller and short stalks and slimy.
They are so close they are even left out of some Hobby coral id books or even misidentified.

In the last picture of mine that shows the zoanthids there is actually one protopalythoa if you look close. It actually shows the differences pretty clearly, It is in the lower left and is grey/slight purple.
That rock was once in my tank and was a amazing piece of rock. If you look hard you can see a tunicate/sea squirt, porities and some sponge.. Probably the most amazing piece rock I ever owned, so many different zoanthinds colors on it and it came in that way.

Another shot of it: I circled the protopalythoa.

 

[ReefAddict0814]

I won these two frags recently. Was told the first is a tyree orange rainbow. Looks a lot like my sunny ds only lighter.
Second I was told is a purple protopaly. I'm not sure what that is. Can anyone fill me in?

From this angle it looks Like the first one has a slit mouth instead of a round mouth which would indicate the FIRST one is a paly while the second one looks to have more of a round mouth like zoas tend to have. Of course u also have a third choice of a protopaly as well but neither look like that.

 

[encrustingacro]

I won these two frags recently. Was told the first is a tyree orange rainbow. Looks a lot like my sunny ds only lighter.
Second I was told is a purple protopaly. I'm not sure what that is. Can anyone fill me in?

1st one is a large polyp Zoanthus; it's something like Z. gigantus, vietnamensis, or kuroshio. 2nd one is Palythoa, not Protopalythoa. There is no such thing as Protopalythoa, as that genus has been synonymized with Palythoa.