stoneroller
New member
Inspired by recent threads, I put together this documentary of what I consider to be unintentional "morphing".
In the beginning...
I have had these Z. gigantus types AKA people eaters (pardon the name partner but we call 'em speckled palys 'rounhere; easier to type too) for about a year, on the sand bed for several months.
For some time (maybe weeks), two frags of some other zoas (green skirts on the left and dark little ones in the front) intruded into my speckled PE space. The sand rolls into this area too. In October, I noticed an odd, colorful polyp. Curiosity sets in....
I removed the "intruders" and found several of these morphed polyps, smaller yet even more intense (pinkish medium-sized one and the partially closed/buried ones on the left of the colony). Sorry about the actinics but it does highlight the color difference.
I pulled the colony and excised the cute little buggers.
Presently, they are doing fine but haven't produced new polyps.
Just sharing.... and will continue to reckon a few things. Was the morph due to environment (shading, sandbed effects, close presence of other zoas) or just inherent variability in Z. gigantus as I have often heard? Was the "morphing" going on before the intrusion? Was bleaching involved? If they produce new polyps what will they look like in terms of size and color and will THAT tell us something important? THE END.
In the beginning...
I have had these Z. gigantus types AKA people eaters (pardon the name partner but we call 'em speckled palys 'rounhere; easier to type too) for about a year, on the sand bed for several months.
For some time (maybe weeks), two frags of some other zoas (green skirts on the left and dark little ones in the front) intruded into my speckled PE space. The sand rolls into this area too. In October, I noticed an odd, colorful polyp. Curiosity sets in....
I removed the "intruders" and found several of these morphed polyps, smaller yet even more intense (pinkish medium-sized one and the partially closed/buried ones on the left of the colony). Sorry about the actinics but it does highlight the color difference.
I pulled the colony and excised the cute little buggers.
Presently, they are doing fine but haven't produced new polyps.
Just sharing.... and will continue to reckon a few things. Was the morph due to environment (shading, sandbed effects, close presence of other zoas) or just inherent variability in Z. gigantus as I have often heard? Was the "morphing" going on before the intrusion? Was bleaching involved? If they produce new polyps what will they look like in terms of size and color and will THAT tell us something important? THE END.
