Do Duncans Or Acans Have Sweepers?

[PACHY-FAN]

Wondering if they have a way to protect their space from other corals. Have never seen sweepers on mine.

 

[cloak]

I don't think they exhibit the kind of sweepers you would see with a Galaxea coral, Torch coral etc, but the short tentacles that they do have probably pack a powerful sting nonetheless.

 

[MondoBongo]

i've seen my acans put out mesenterial filaments before, usually during feeding. so i would assume these could be used equally well for offensive/defensive purposes. however, like cloak said, they don't appear to have the same reach of something like a euphyllia.

truth be told my acans seem pretty tame, and have actually even ceded ground to mushrooms before.

 

[jayball]

i've seen my acans put out mesenterial filaments before, usually during feeding. so i would assume these could be used equally well for offensive/defensive purposes. however, like cloak said, they don't appear to have the same reach of something like a euphyllia.

truth be told my acans seem pretty tame, and have actually even ceded ground to mushrooms before.

I have seen a picture of an acan's mesenterial filaments latched onto another coral somewhere on here, pretty good reach. Does not seem all that common though or we would hear about it more.

 

[PACHY-FAN]

Thanx for responding. I appreciate it

 

[cloak]

Mesenterial Filaments is not really something you want to see on a regular basis IMO. I'm not necessarily saying that something might be wrong, but in most cases these aren't expelled for $h!t$ & giggles. There must have been a reason. (too close?) Not a sweeper, almost a last resort. (guts, as in puke) Just spitballing. GL.

 

[reefwiser]

Acan sweepers

Ducans can bother other corals with their tentacles also. But don't send out really long tentacles.

 

[Reef Bass]

+1 to cloak's first post. I will add I have seen mesentery filaments from acan lords as a defense move, opening a can of whoop butt on a neighbor. Acan echinata is classic for that. Very aggressive, highly destructive to its victims.

reefwiser, I believe that's a Favia, not an acan.

 

[Deton8it]

This is a quote from NOAAs website "In addition to sweeper tentacles, several hard coral species can produce mesenterial filaments from their stomachs (corals of the genera Favia, Favites, Scolymia, Pavona, and Cynarina all have this capacity). These filaments can kill or devour other coral polyps through a process similar to digestion. Some corals even have the capacity to produce both sweeper tentacles and mesenterial filaments, enabling them to fight a battle on several fronts."

I have an Acan Bowerbanki that I caught doing to this to an Acan Lord. I couldn't figure out why one of my Lords was losing heads so I waited until night and shined a light in the tank. I was expecting to find a pest eating it. I was really shocked to see it was the Bowerbanki killing it. They were about 1.5 inch away from each other. I moved the Bower about 3 inches away now and I haven't had a problem since.

 

[MondoBongo]

thanks for that Deton, i've been using mesenterial filament and sweeper interchangeably, which appears incorrect.

for clarity, what i've seen from my acans looks very similar to what is shown in reeferwise's photo.

 

[Reef Bass]

Here's a crappy pic of an A. echinata punishing some coralline. Note how the mesentery filaments are not the shorter, translucent, emerging from each polyp tentacles one usually sees from acans. These don't blow in the current. They can creep up current along the sandbed. Some of the "regular" polyp tentacles are visible along the upper portion of the echinata. There are also some mesentery filaments extending to the right.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Here's a crappy pic of an A. echinata punishing some coralline. Note how the mesentery filaments are not the shorter, translucent, emerging from each polyp tentacles one usually sees from acans. These don't blow in the current. They can creep up current along the sandbed. Some of the "regular" polyp tentacles are visible along the upper portion of the echinata. There are also some mesentery filaments extending to the right.

NOTHING, in that picture looks healthy. Some serious problems going on there.

 

[MondoBongo]

Uh. Looks like a fairly normal scene after lights out to me?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Uh. Looks like a fairly normal scene after lights out to me?

Sorry but not normal in my tank. I'll try and remember to take some right after lights out pictures tomorrow for comparison.