Is it Zoa, Zoo, or Zo?

rubysmomma1

New member
I've seen everyone refer to Zoanthids as zoas, zoos, and zos. I have always used zoa since that is the first three letters in their names. I know that everyone on this forum knows what everyone else is talking about, but what is proper?
 
zoa is short for zoanthid. but since so many people misspell it, if you are searching on ebay, do a search for zoanthid, zoa, zooanthid, and zoo. you'll get some new returns each time you search.
 
if you want to be proper, Zoanthid species would probably be the most appropriate way to refer to them. But, who is going to do all that? :p
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7497678#post7497678 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by surfnvb7
if you are searching on ebay, do a search for zoanthid, zoa, zooanthid, and zoo. you'll get some new returns each time you search.

try this search term! :D

(zo*,paly*,proto*)
 
you know what? if you use any of those terms, reef keepers will know what you're talking about.
 
naming

naming

Hmmmm....

I think they are all fine, but what exactly are you referring to?

Zoanthus species?

or all zoanthids? (Zoanthus, Palythoa, Parazoanthus, and so on and so on).
 
Ahh well that is the root of the problem: "just zoanthids".

Check this out (Wikipedia):

Zoanthids (order Zoanthidea, AKA Zoantharia)) are a type of soft coral commonly found in coral reefs all around the world. These animals come in a variety of different colonizing formations and in numerous colors.

While the soft coral part is NOT correct, the word "zoanthid" referring to the ENTIRE ORDER is. So, zoanthids cover everything discussed in this forum (Palythoa, Zoanthus) as well as other animals rarely seen here (Epizoanthus, Parazoanthus, Acrozoanthus, etc.).

If you mean the polyps with pretty colors and NO sand in their tissue, then you are talking not about the entire order, but only the genus Zoanthus. I think this is what many people mean when they talk about "zoos, zos, zoas". I think all those names are fine, but DEF NOT zoanthids, that has a whole different meaning.

j.
 
I agree. Zoanthus is what most mean by zoas, but so many things get tossed around. All larger polyped zoas are typically called Paly's, and while that may be correct in many cases with the classification of Z. gigantus, it is incorrect a lot of the time, also.
 
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