People Eaters

[kichimark]

Sounds good...I don't got no people eaters....that I know of. Im gonna head to the store. Lets see if I get anything.

 

[Jarred1]

I was hanging on to this thread to see if anyone else knew about it!

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1931948&highlight=let+your+people+eaters+fly

 

[Scopus Tang]

Here's another one with some more background info on PEs, but the above posted one has great pictures.

http://web1.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=7158982

 

[popwin]

so all zoas with fluorescent mouths are called eaters?

Because they have a fluorescent green mouth.

 

[cody6766]

Its the green mouth coupled with the characteristic white stripes on the stalk when closed up. There may be another trait or 2, I forget.

Here are some of mine. The color is hard to capture in a pic. They have a green iridescence that looks as if it's isolated to the top tissue layer. Deeper down they're purpleish blue, but not like a PPE is purple.

I got them really cheap too. they were on the bargain frag rack.

 

[Scopus Tang]

Identifying PE zoanthids

Identifying PE zoanthids

Little write-up I did on the PE zoanthids as part of a PE zoanthid catalogue (google it you're bored);

Members of family Zoanthidae are arguably the most commonly named of all corals, and it is in fact a member of this group which is commonly identified as having first started the naming craze of corals. Blane Perun first collected, propagated, named and sold PPE (aka Purple People Eaters) in order to help fund a children’s charity. He tells the story on his own web site, Farms of the Sea. This particular polyp has ranged in price from $200/polyp to its current price of around $20 to $50/polyp, and has inadvertently set the standard of a higher price for members of this particular species of zoanthids. The slow growth rate of the PPE polyp insures that it continues to be in high demand by hobbyists who feel they need to acquire this icon for their aquarium.

Perun originally identified this particular polyp as a palythoa, and thus they are still commonly (and incorrectly) referred to in the hobby as palys. However, Reimer later classified all Indo-Pacific PE's by DNA into their own species, Zoanthus gigantus. Care should be taken when identifying PE zoas as Zoanthus gigantus however, as Caribbean People Eaters are currently classifed as either Zoanthus pulchellus or Zoanthus solanderi. Further genetic research is required to determine if in fact these two groups of very similar zoas are the same species.

The PPE polyp exhibited a set of easily identifiable characteristics and based on these characteristics a significant number of additional color morphs, many of them much more colorful than the original, have since been identified. These morphs are collectively grouped and referred to as PE (aka People Eater) zoas. It has been suggested that the People Eater moniker was given because of the large green mouth that this group exhibits.

The characteristics which distinguish members of this species include the following;

A large, typically colorful, oral disc;

A neon green mouth;

Although in some color morphs speckling can make the mouth color difficult to distinguish;

And white (watermelon-like) striping on the underside of the polyp;

In my personal experience, most PEs also have short, fairly blunt-tipped tentacles in their skirt;

Additional Info: Some morphs exhibit a bluish ring around the green mouth which distinguishes them from similar morphs. Morphs with the bluish ring are sometimes distinguished with the word “True” in their name, such as these True Green PEs;

 

[A. Grandis]

:hmm4:

Oh yeah! ...

:dance:

Bump!

Grandis.