Pigment Grafting in Birdsnest

[JSeymour]

Just wanted to share...

So a couple days ago, a green fork yellow birdsnest frag became dislodged and was leaning against a pink birdsnest frag. Today I was doing some fragging and with my hands in the tank already, I reglued the loose frag. I was a little shocked to see a couple green spots on the pink birdsnest. What surprised me the most was how fast the pigment transferred. Here's a couple pics, one of the donor, the other of the recipient. Curious to see what happens.

Green Fork Yellow Birdsnest, Seriatopora caliendrum

Thick Branch Pink Birdsnest, Seriatopora guttatus(photo darkened to show green)

Note the Green hue on the left side and the really green spot near the bottom. This coral has NEVER shown any green color regardless of lighting, flow, etc. Hopefully it's a successful pigment graft, time will tell.

 

[franklypre]

looks like a bird of paradise to me, they have green bases and purple polyps. Could be a graft but there are several areas that look flourescent green to me.

 

[JSeymour]

The original colony is pure pink, not a touch of green to it. Older and shaded areas turn brownish, not greenish. The green hue covering a lot of the left side and the deep green spot near the bottom are completely new. This was the area the other birdsnest was pressed up against. It's too late to take any pics tonight, but this is the exact mother colony my original frag came from though.

Image Property of www.ReefCorals.com

 

[franklypre]

honestly after looking at the pics on the website I'm more convinced it is a BOP type bnest. Look at the other colonies and compare them to what you would see in a tank with bluer lighting. A few of the colonies are totally different than I typically see for sale. Maybe we can fet an expert on it if you put it in the SPS ID thread.

 

[JSeymour]

They[my pink birdsnest and BOP] are likely the same species, S. guttatus, but they are definitely different color morphs. My accidental graft may have created a BOP, but neither original coral is. I can tell you 100% the original thick branch pink birdsnest I have has never shown a green pigment, just brown to pink depending on lighting and size.

I should mention, I've been growing and fragging this coral both at my house and my store, producing hundreds of frags from this strain, for a couple years now. I have long-term experience with this exact coral. This green color has never appeared in all this time, until the yellow birdsnest got tangled in it for a few days. Short of sequencing the DNA of the zooxanthellae to be 100%, I'm completely positive the green pigment came from the other coral.

Anyways, as time goes by, I'll post new pics as it develops or disappears. I'm hoping it sticks.

 

[kaserpick]

I'm interested to what happens as well.

As a side note, I love the growth pattern your mother colony has. It's a beautiful coral!

 

[reefsurfing]

Since they are the same genus, perhaps the colonized zooxanthellae play nice together; creating a morph! It will be interesting to see if it holds that color for a length of time.