Stichodactyla helianthus Cloning??

[JetCat USA]

I've got an Atlantic carpet nem that appears to be cloning. i posted it as a comment in a previous thread and the below is part of that, it's a slow process but it defiantly appears to be a clone in the making..........

over the past several weeks one of mine (a Stichodactyla helianthus) seams to be doing just that. i moved it to my 90g setup roughly two months ago during a bunch of tank shuffling while doing some remodeling. it stayed attached to the bottom glass for a little over a month and has ate more then it's fair share of silversides and has grown a fair amount. well a couple weeks back it looked 'odd' to say the least the way it had stretched its foot out. this pic was taken then through the bottom glass (it's bare-bottom):

it continued to stay fully expanded but formed into a figure 8 shape and the mouth slowly seamed to work over to one side, it continued to eat so i just blew it off. well earlier this week one side started to walk up the glass.

and a shot up through the bottom glass:

i fed it the other night, the mouth was on the top half and i really didn't pay much attention to it otherwise till the next night when it was expelling the remains of the two silversides, they were coming out the bottom half........

pic is rotated, left is top of tank, right is bottom:

seamed strange so i tried to fluff the tentacles and it's got two individual mouths now best i can tell, kinda hard to get in there with one hand and not get it stuck to you and take a pic with the other hand but it sure seams like it's got two mouths now....

that was from the other thread, over the last few days it's twisted/stretched around a good bit and here are updated pics.

front shot from today 09 Oct 2007:

and a side shot:

 

[Lance M.]

Very cool.

 

[shred5]

Interesting.

Looks healthy in the last pics that is for sure...


Dave

 

[JetCat USA]

i was doing a little bit closer inspection today and noticed something else strange, some of the tentacles are also bifurcated, now I'm wondering if this was present prior to the presumed splitting, maybe a genetic trigger to divide??

I've got another one in my 75 reef that my female Maroon calls home, it's about 10", Very healthy and has no bifurcated tentacles.

 

[traveller7]

Nicely documented, keep up the good work :>)

 

[JetCat USA]

Thanks Scott.

this is tonight with lights out, looks like it's getting closer to becoming two. from the side glass the foot that i can see looks like an individual now rather then a stretched off the other side foot.

 

[gberry]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10936883#post10936883 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JetCat USA
i was doing a little bit closer inspection today and noticed something else strange, some of the tentacles are also bifurcated, now I'm wondering if this was present prior to the presumed splitting, maybe a genetic trigger to divide??

Both my LTA and BTA have tentacles that are bifrucated, maybe 2-3 per anemone. Unless you have an unusually large number of tentacles this way, I'm not sure if there's a correllation between that and impending fission. Just an observation

 

[JetCat USA]

and the side shot:

 

[JetCat USA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10940748#post10940748 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gberry
Both my LTA and BTA have tentacles that are bifrucated, maybe 2-3 per anemone. Unless you have an unusually large number of tentacles this way, I'm not sure if there's a correllation between that and impending fission. Just an observation

I've never seen it in carpets, of course I've never seen a carpet clone either

 

[JetCat USA]

Any Day Now It Should Be Two:

 

[shred5]

Sweet.. I wonder what triggered it? Maybe it got injured during the move or it was just caused by the move alone.... Any how still is cool and still looks real healthy...

Dave

 

[JetCat USA]

there was no damage during the move and he looked great for over a month after the move. this pic is 10 Sept 2007, it was moved 14 Aug 2007:

 

[JetCat USA]

the Tug O' War contest has dislodged the left smaller half from the glass and it's now we've got this today:

still connected via a small strip of tissue though.

 

[timrandlerv10]

CUT IT!!!!

no dont

THANK YOU so much for all the pics...

 

[tpdpercula]

That is the coolest thing I have ever seen. If all of us with carpets (haddoni/gigantea) were so lucky. Keep the pics coming. What are lighting and water params in your tank?

Thanks and keep up the good work

 

[JetCat USA]

lighting is 4x54w T5 on an IceCap 660 w/ IceCap SLRs.

i don't test the Ca/Alk all that often, not much in there that has a calcium demand other then the coralline and it's toped off via a Kalk Reactor, when i do test they are 450ish Ca and 9.6ish dKH. the tank is pretty heavily fed but it's skimmed fairly well as well as has O3 keeping it at 400mv, NO3 with a PinPoint monitor is usually >5 but <10, PO4 is <0.01 with a Hanna (GFO in use) pH stays 8.2-8.4

 

[Haddonisreef]

Mna thats cool wish my blue haddoni would split like that!

 

[JetCat USA]

must be saving up energy for another tug o' war. both halves look great this morning but they are still connected and both have full foot attachment.

 

[GSMguy]

wow

 

[JetCat USA]

well today was normal feeding day for all my nems and I'd though about skipping over this one but it had ate previously as seen above so i said what the hey and chopped a 3" silverside in half and gave one half to each side.........

i had the camera sitting close by so as soon as i got them fed, hand dried off and camera on...........NO CARD PRESENT....seams i had left the media card in the reader from earlier when i pulled the above pic off.........took about 30 seconds to round up the card and by then both had almost engulfed the offerings.

the smaller half (on the left side) the mouth isn't in the center, it's closer to the side where the separation is taking place, the others is in the middle.