Hi all,
I thought my fellow zoanthid enthusiast here would appreciate a couple of photos of some wild zoanthids in there natural habitat. These pics were taken in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica in Febuary of 2004. The park is located on the Osa peninsula in the extreme southwestern part of the country along the Pacific coast. The coast line there is highly energetic, lots of waves and a strong under tow most of the time. Along parts of the coast, due to erosion by the waves on ancient lava flows, there are massive tide pools. I wish I had something for scale in the picture, but I don’t so you will have to take my word for it that many of these tide pools are on scale with back yard swimming pools (ie up to 40’ long and as much as 10’ deep). The marine life was absolutely fabulous in the pools, many different tangs, puffers, and angles. I found a monstrous grouper in one and a snowflake eel in another. But the yellow/green zoas were my most exciting find. They were growing in one of the smaller pools (maybe 3’ across and 2 â€"œ 2.5’ deep). The other zoas pictured were much more common, and along with various coralline algae and feather dusters they carpeted the walls of almost all the pools.
P.S. If anybody has or knows where to get some like the yellow/green zoas pictured let me know. I would love to have some in my tank.
Jay
I thought my fellow zoanthid enthusiast here would appreciate a couple of photos of some wild zoanthids in there natural habitat. These pics were taken in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica in Febuary of 2004. The park is located on the Osa peninsula in the extreme southwestern part of the country along the Pacific coast. The coast line there is highly energetic, lots of waves and a strong under tow most of the time. Along parts of the coast, due to erosion by the waves on ancient lava flows, there are massive tide pools. I wish I had something for scale in the picture, but I don’t so you will have to take my word for it that many of these tide pools are on scale with back yard swimming pools (ie up to 40’ long and as much as 10’ deep). The marine life was absolutely fabulous in the pools, many different tangs, puffers, and angles. I found a monstrous grouper in one and a snowflake eel in another. But the yellow/green zoas were my most exciting find. They were growing in one of the smaller pools (maybe 3’ across and 2 â€"œ 2.5’ deep). The other zoas pictured were much more common, and along with various coralline algae and feather dusters they carpeted the walls of almost all the pools.
P.S. If anybody has or knows where to get some like the yellow/green zoas pictured let me know. I would love to have some in my tank.
Jay
