Kinda stupid question

[reefcrew]

Despite the fact that I'm a reefer for years I do have kinda stupid question: feeding a polyp of coral where individual polyps are connected together with mat or skeleton into colony am I feeding just that individual polyp or whole colony?

 

[kharmaguru]

Not stupid. I've been doing this more than 30 yrs and had to google it. Seaworld says they share:

https://seaworld.org/animals/all-ab...=Nutrient Transfer,other polyps in the colony.

If you search 'do coral colonies share food", you'll get some sporadic results but all basically agree 'yes'.

 

[griss]

Yep, in over 30 years in the hobby I always just assumed they shared

 

[wvned]

I do not think they share through a skeletal part. Individual heads on a branching hammer for example. I have cut the skeleton and there is no tissue in it to carry nutrients.