Green Slimer Morph

[Logzor]

My green slimer is growing right under a blue bottlebrush acropora. A large patch of the coral is developing a purple/blue hue to it.

Could the coral actually be morphing or is this just a fluke that will fade away?

Closeup

 

[Bigmike]

I dont know, but that is super cool!

 

[aquariumclown]

I've seen slimmers with blue tips. Maybe that's what's happening to yours.

 

[Logzor]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15295417#post15295417 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aquariumclown
I've seen slimmers with blue tips. Maybe that's what's happening to yours.

Must be. Dunno what has caused this. The mother colony, which is pretty big, is a few inches away and has no sign of blue.

 

[aquariumclown]

I noticed that corals that have blue tips (or colored tips) are due to new healthy growth. Perhaps it's having a good growth spurt that is making it color up.

 

[aquariumclown]

BTW, stop complaining! JK!

 

[evsalty]

There are blue tip bali's but they do not slime the way a true green slimer does "who you going to call....." No but seriously I am not sure why the blue tip one is refered to as a slimer, if I had to guess it is only because they both come from Bali. I believe the blue tips are of the tenuis sp.

 

[aquariumclown]

Easy to tell between slimmer or tenuis. Slimmer is a staghorn, tenius grows bushy, if i'm not mistaken it tables out when it gets large enough.

 

[sjfishguy]

My green slimer does that in shaded sections, don't think its anything too special.

 

[29reef]

Looks like a blue tip color patern, fwiw you can't just put two corals next to one another and get a new type of coral from this. It seemed like you were suggesting this in your first post.

 

[Logzor]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15298124#post15298124 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 29reef
Looks like a blue tip color patern, fwiw you can't just put two corals next to one another and get a new type of coral from this. It seemed like you were suggesting this in your first post.

I would loved to have heard that it was possible but I knew it wasn't

I am just surprised to see this after having this coral in my tank for a year and a half.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I've seen slimers develop this blue coloration in other aquariums

 

[SunnyX]

Very cool!

I have a nice size min-colony of Blue Slimmer in my reef and it is one of the sharpest corals I have. I got it from Reefermadness.com years ago before they closed shop. Its always on everyone's must have list around me.

 

[Frankenpora]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15298124#post15298124 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 29reef
fwiw you can't just put two corals next to one another and get a new type of coral from this.

This is only mostly true
There are instances of grafting that are documented, and it is
my belief that once we get down to the nitty gritty on the method
by which Zooxoanthelle are captured by a host colony, the doors
are going to swing wide open in this area.

It is very clear that in nature color morphing, and variations do
occur. The real question is to what extent this evolution is purely
through mating.

 

[Garage1217]

I have a slimer mounted horizontal that is doing the same thing, has blue on all of the growth tips. Looks VERY similar to yours, except the blue is more isolated to a few tips.

 

[Oldude]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15295471#post15295471 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by evsalty
There are blue tip bali's but they do not slime the way a true green slimer does "who you going to call....." No but seriously I am not sure why the blue tip one is refered to as a slimer, if I had to guess it is only because they both come from Bali. I believe the blue tips are of the tenuis sp.

I have a blue tip green slimer and it is very very slimey. You can see a bit of it in the upper left of this picture. Sorry it's not that clear, I was trying to shoot fish not coral when I took it.

Here is another single branch cluster shot.

 

[Oldude]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15298887#post15298887 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Frankenpora
This is only mostly true
There are instances of grafting that are documented,

Not trying to hijack the thread but speaking of grafting you can see the red acro growing off the blue branch. (graft was accidental)

 

[29reef]

Frankenpora- is the photo two different species of acro or one acro showing two primary color patterns?

 

[Frankenpora]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15300517#post15300517 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 29reef
Frankenpora- is the photo two different species of acro or one acro showing two primary color patterns?

This is an excelent question. I believe that the word grafting implies that two species are comined, however in the example
above a Simplex is shown that has somehow obtained Zooxoanthelle from another colony. So in brief, it is one type
of Acro with the shared Xoanthelle of two. This process was first
described by Steve Tyree in this example:
www.reeffarmers.com/limitedgraftedsimplex.htm

It only seems natural to me that if all of these colonies host
Xoanthelle, then it should be able to be transfered between
species. I would hypothisis that if the Xoanthelle were
introduced in a way that does not trigger the corals self defense
mechanism. Then it should be possible for Xoanthelle to be
introduced to a colony, if not prior to colony formation, since
according to what I have read Xoanthelle are captured, not
transfered at birth.


I hope this discussion is not viewed as a hijack by the poster, since I believe it gives hope to his original thoughts


P.S. I reserve the right to be wrong.

 

[29reef]

Frank- I agree with you that a single coral or two corals of the same species can share the same colors and blend to create a "new" coral. However I can't take for example a german blue polyp and a Cali tort and make a german Cali tort (so to speak) I think it's very uncommon to see the blending just because of the nemociscts that occur in these corals. They would just coexist living next to eachother.