my s.gigantea have two mouths. normal or should i be worried....

[tvrsir]

Still floating in the bag. Just got it right out of transport from overseas. Both mouth are tight and color is good.

Parameter in tank is as follows.

8.2
All at 9
Calcium at 400
Salinity at 1.026

 

[stickleback]

Get a picture up.

 

[bradleym]

Sounds like it'll be an interesting pet, but nothing to worry about. Please post pics!

 

[xtlosx]

Yea, this needs some pictures...... I'm generally curious now!!

 

[tvrsir]

Will do. I got a few last night. It was soo late I couldn't post it. Was soo sleepy. I acclimated it for like 6 hours.

 

[tvrsir]

as promised..

any expert out there... would i have to feed both mouth or just one?

 

[k.tran]

when you feed the anenome it will move the food to its mouth. that is INSANE looking!!

 

[tvrsir]

the mouth on the bottom does this sometimes. what does that mean?

 

[Haddonisreef]

Pretty cool! Interested t see what some of the vets say about this!

 

[ReeferBill]

Probably going to split! Awesome Nem!So cool 2 for 1....!!!!

 

[elegance coral]

It's not going to split. It's a simple deformity. Pretty cool, but not reproduction. Kinda like a snake with two heads. It's pretty cool, but it's not going to turn into two snakes.

Like K.tran said, just feed the anemone as usual, and it will do with the food what it needs to. It will probably move the food to the nearest mouth.

 

[BonsaiNut]

I've never seen anything like this before. I tend to agree with EC that it doesn't appear to be splitting, because a splitting anemone doesn't typically form two mouths before splitting - it splits THROUGH the mouth and then the two halves heal up after the division.

Keep us updated!

 

[Reefvette]

I had a magnifica with the same thing going on. Both ate seperately.

 

[Rippinfrags]

Not as cool as a s. gigantea or a h. Magnifica, but I had an E. quad with two mouths. Here is a pic:

 

[tvrsir]

reefvette so do you target feed both mouth?

 

[ousnakebyte]

When my coldwater anemones spawned 1.5 years ago, I found one of the recruits looking like this:

Unfortunately, I lost track of it, so i don't know what became of it.

I did have a lot of clumping with the larvae due to rearing them at such high densities, so I'm wondering if this could be the result of fusion of two larvae....?

Very cool to see that on a gigantea though. And no, I certainly wouldn't worry about it. Clearly, it's grown as large as it has with that "condition" not bothering it.

I'm wondering though... do both mouths lead to the same gastrovasular cavity...? I would think that they do - they certainly do in my photo.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Reefvette]

I did target feed it when i first got it. After a month i let it catch whatever it wants.

 

[5Starreef]

Pretty cool!
Please, keep us updated

 

[stickleback]

Evolution, Reckon ones going to evole into an anus:ape:

Seriousily though, I wonder if it has two stomachs if stomachs are what anemones have?

:spin3:

 

[deangelr]

I've never seen anything like this before. I tend to agree with EC that it doesn't appear to be splitting, because a splitting anemone doesn't typically form two mouths before splitting - it splits THROUGH the mouth and then the two halves heal up after the division.

Keep us updated!

I thought for those anemones known to reproduce asexually (i.e. quadricolor) that binary fission as well as budding were both known modes of reproduction.. IME, there are two mouths before the split... at least in quadricolor and mags.. Ive got no source and can't remeber where I heard this so not sure if it is true or not..


Isn't the jury still out on weather or not gigs reproduce asexually.. There is that one paper with anecdotal evidence at best.. But has there ever been a study (published or not) to understand the whens whys and hows of Gig reproduction?