Determining Zoa Origin

[tekknoschtev]

I posted this on a local forum about a month ago, and the answers were as I suspected, but I figure here has a larger user base, and maybe some different ideas as to how to approach the topic. Anyways...

After submitting some zoas to ZoaID and being asked if I knew their origin, I became curious. Is there any way that a normal hobbyist can determine even a region as to where zoas come from beyond "the ocean"? One of the reefers brought up that there are some studies being carried out which hope to be able to use DNA to hopefully determine origin (among other things). Other than tracing the colony back to the exact person who harvested it from the ocean, is it possible perhaps by certain traits to determine a rough idea as to where the zoas came from?

 

[Azurel]

That's a real good question Tekk, I think in the end this is one coral that is relatively the same no matter where it came from with very little differences between those that are in the Pacific environment or the Atlantic environment. One of the latest Coral magazine installments talked about Reticulate evolution and how the currents, time and space can dictate the evolvement in a coral and lack there of. I think most of the zoas that we get are 90% from the indo-pacific and there for will share the same traits with one another.

 

[whodah]

pink = tonga

ha ha, jk!

the only style that i kinda recognize (and watch someone prove me wrong just as soon as i say this :lol: happens a lot on this forum! ) is the caribbean 'look'.

like (forgive the quality of the pics):

or

kinda concave, smooth surfaces, odd shaped (not necessarily round), and those hedge bush like skirts.

i like how they form weird shapes to be 100% solid so you cannot see the rock as opposed to a cluster of rounds zoas. pretty nifty!

at any rate, i treat this as a rule of thumb, but so far it's been accurate, heh!