SPS Question

[cmhollis]

I noticed that a couple of my SPS's are spitting out long, thread-like filaments. Are they bleaching, or is something else going on?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[G-money]

They're probably mesenterial filaments. On the boards, I've heard lots of folks attribute ithem to a feeding response, but anything I've read in the scientific literature describes them as a stress response. I know that I don't get them when I feed. I see them occassionally, but not often at all. I'd think that if it was an effective feeding response, we'd see them a lot more often when we feed. I don't, though.

 

[Marcelog]

Funny, I've only seen them during feedings.

Marcelo -

 

[G-money]

Allow me to rephrase that. Stress is not the correct word. It's more like "defensive response". There could be something in certain foods that elicits a defensive response from the coral. Maybe. I dunno...