people eaters will eat!!! (pic intense!!)

[surfnvb7]

thanks for the compliments guys.

i know myself and others have seen these protopalys/zoa gigantus close up around some mysis or other food, and supposedly eat it.

i've just never seen them 'pucker up' in this manner, open the mouth and catch food with some kind of string of mucos.

so what does everything think this pucker up behavior is for? (like what twon8 posted in his thread)

defense mechanism?
a hunger bahavior? (i can see the zoas saying "feed me", every time they pucker up )
some kind of reproduction mechanism?

 

[ficklefins]

Nice work Al!

Everything went back to normal afterwards correct?

Wow

 

[twon8]

those are some really cool pics there; I have seen some ppe-type consume mysis, and i have a blasto that looks similiar when cosuming food. its green mouth inverts like that and envelops the mysis or cylcopeeze. I think the behavior i saw was reproductive or defensive; if i see it again ill set up the tripod and get some better pics.

 

[surfnvb7]

my girlfriend decided to copy my experiment in her tank, and tried to capture some pics. the same type of polyps, did the exact same thing and puckered up again, releasing this clear slime to catch its food. then sucked it up like a big loogie

although she got the pics i couldnt, so here it is.

 

[twon8]

kind of like a frog catching a fly

 

[EDGRAY]

YUMMM YUMM YUMMM

 

[jreimer]

Hmmm....

Hmmm....

Just a question for you all to ponder...

If you look at the pics with the "red thread" being expelled, you can see the string of mucus appears to be made of red balls or beads - am I right or cross-eyed on this - let me know...

So, what I am pondering, is maybe this is spawning similar to as seen by twon8 - check this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=862928

Differences in color of the egg and the amount of mucus between eggs may be a species to species difference, as many different species of coral in the same genus often have eggs of different color and size. Maybe PPE etc have more mucus and the eggs are more "connected" to each other by this mucus.

The other reasons I think this may be spawning are:

1. There are no documented species that catch food with a "thread" from their mouth in zoanthids (at least so far!). Tentacles are for feeding...
2. This timing (early June) matches twon's timing, which incidentally matches the timing of many zoanthids' spawning in the northern hemisphere (June, July, August).
3. Spawning is usually just before or after a full moon in summer (+/- 3 days), and the full moon is on June 11 this month.
4. Some corals are known to expand their polyps to "pump" the eggs out, this may happen many times in a night...

Still, this is just an idea - and doesn't explain the reaction to food. Thought I would throw the idea out there and see what you all think...

cheers,

j.

 

[manderx]

you can see the string of mucus appears to be made of red balls or beads

or cyclopeeze.



just about everything opens and inverts it's mouth a little when it eats. get it in the mouth as soon as possible before something steals it. haven't you guys ever seen mushrooms and LPS (brains, plates,...) eat? they all do that. the slime is a slime coat that the corals have over their bodies to normally catch microscopic detritus and bacteria that they use as a conveyor belt to get it to their mouths. remember that in nature they eat a whole lot more of the microscopic stuff than the occassional jackpot large&meaty meals.

 

[jreimer]

Hey manderx,

Yeah, that may be the case - as a newbie I am not terribly familiar with cyclopeeze. Still, just wondering if the tentacles came into play or not... There is almost no real info out there on zoanthids chowing down. For that matter, most people are still discussing whether hard corals rely solely on their zooxanthellae or not! It's sad but true, we need more dedicated zoanthid maniacs to start up posts like this.

And - still wondering about this chowing/spawning business. Cool whatever it is.

out of the office - j.

 

[Jovreefer]

I've never seen my PPE's expell a slime to eat but I've seen them grab things with their skirt and put it in their mouths. Some of them stay open long enough to watch eat, then they close up with their skirts still sticking out.

I've never been able to get a decent set of pics like you guys though... congrats!

 

[twon8]

cyclopeeze is a frozen food comprised of small red copepods, and they look like red beads. It amazes me that there is so much we don't know about the ocean.

 

[jreimer]

Yeah - if any of you happen to see any more of this "slime spider web/frog tongue" thing let us know - I am sure it would make major news in the science world! All this talk makes me want to get a tank at home... which then result in probably the end of all other interests.

This type of news/discussion is exactly why I starting reading these threads - great!

 

[speeds5]

That is cool. Great shots.

 

[surfnvb7]

thanks for the animation whoda!