Post pics of your palythoa

phursts photo brought the grand total of palythoa pics in this thread up to 3 :)

the rest are protos or zoanthids
 
the main difference lies in the fact that they are different genus

you removed your pics, but one was a people eater if I recall, which is a zoanthus gigantus, and the other looked like a lunar eclipse, which is another large zoanthid....Im not sure of the species.

palythoa and protopalythoa uptake substrate to make up their structure as well as palythoa tend to grow in true mats as seen by the pics posted of actual palythoa above. Zoanthids do not uptake substrate to build their structure, they may have stuff stuck to the outside as they grow around stuff but it is just their and not how they buidl themselves. There are other differences if you dig deeper but that is the main thing. The word paly has somehow become synonymous with all large polyps, and the size of the polyp means nothing. Most things commonly called palys by hobbyists and retailers are simply large species of zoanthids.

It really doesnt matter as the care is generally the same and with just a few exceptions visually being able to tell one species of zoanthid from another, and one species of paly from another is about impossible. But identifying zoanthids from palys is easy enough to usually tell visually, especially with the polyps closed.

Its just a stupid pointless pet peeve of mine hearing all large polyps called palys becasue of their size. lol ;)
 
is this it?:confused:


215986paly.JPG
 
WOW!.. Thanks Flyguy, this thread made me do alot of reading and realize how much people miss name there stuff, including alot of so called "palys" that I have bought.. its all good though, that's why I love this hobby.. just when you THINK you know you get a lesson and expand your knowledge!...
 
Heck...you think the misnaming is bad in concern to polyps........go check out the sps forum where we actually have countless hundreds of known species of montipora and acropora and others to misindentify :)
 
Here are my "amor of gods" or "devils amor" don't care what they are called all I know is they are awesome and have grown 10 new heads since this pic.
 
^ No, they are not palys.

You have large zoanthids and protopalys, prison polices has protos also.
 
Then what are 808s' because mine are exactly the same, the green ones that is. Please post a pic of yours since your such the expert. And Dave you sell chips, your not a marine biologist. I think the owner of my lfs probably knows quite a bit about what he is selling! And I get all them for dirt cheap so its not like hes lying to get more $ money from me.
 
Most of 808's are not real palythoa, the green ones are protopalythoa. Look at the 3rd pic from 808, the pics from speckled grouper, and the pic from phurst. They are all real palythoa.

I am not claiming to be an expert nor did I claim to have any true palys, but believe me, you have protos and zoanthids. Many polyps have paly in their 'common name' but are not palys...
 
From Page 1...
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15279281#post15279281 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flyyyguy
the main difference lies in the fact that they are different genus


palythoa and protopalythoa uptake substrate to make up their structure as well as palythoa tend to grow in true mats as seen by the pics posted of actual palythoa above. Zoanthids do not uptake substrate to build their structure, they may have stuff stuck to the outside as they grow around stuff but it is just their and not how they buidl themselves. There are other differences if you dig deeper but that is the main thing. The word paly has somehow become synonymous with all large polyps, and the size of the polyp means nothing. Most things commonly called palys by hobbyists and retailers are simply large species of zoanthids.

It really doesnt matter as the care is generally the same and with just a few exceptions visually being able to tell one species of zoanthid from another, and one species of paly from another is about impossible. But identifying zoanthids from palys is easy enough to usually tell visually, especially with the polyps closed.

Its just a stupid pointless pet peeve of mine hearing all large polyps called palys becasue of their size. lol ;)
 
To further muddy things...

Technically, "zoanthid" refers to the family Zoanthidae which includes all species in the genera, Protopalythoa, Palythoa, Zoanthus and several others.

So, when we speak of zoanthid it should be referring to all of these genera not just Zoanthus spp. Well, I am not a marine biologist but I did stay...

BTW, I wish I had some Palythoa!
 
I agree with stonerollers, they are all in the same family. They all look almost the same as well. So I think it is safe that these are all beautiful coral regardless of their name. The pics that 808 posted are awesome! As well as all the others. ;)
 
Here are some of mine...nice marbling of brown & lime green, with the smallest being quarter-sized and largest close to 2"

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