wild zoanthids

[ficklefins]

Jreimer,
Thank you for giving us those pics. It is amazing how much variety there is every part of the world.

I have a question:
Do you know the depths in which some these color combinations are found? The reason I ask is because as hobbiests we subject our collections to different lighting conditions and you never really get the true colors as you see in your pics.

BTW: Is anybody planning a trip to Japan? If so I got some real interest in those Zoanthus gigantus with green mouths!

 

[ficklefins]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7532604#post7532604 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ficklefins
Jreimer,
Thank you for giving us those pics. It is amazing how much variety there is in every part of the world.

I have a question:
Do you know the depths in which some these color combinations are found? The reason I ask is because as hobbiests we subject our collections to different lighting conditions and you never really get the true colors as you see in your pics.

BTW: Is anybody planning a trip to Japan? If so I got some real interest in those Zoanthus gigantus with green mouths!

 

[jreimer]

Most of the photos above were taken in pretty shallow waters (less than 5m). This seems to be the area where most Zoanthus and Palythoa that are zooxanthellate are found (at least around here). The only photos that are not from shallow waters are the Parazoanthus pic (17m) and the Palythoa heliodiscus pic (9m). Parazoanthus is azooxanthellate (lives by feeding on food in the water column), and although Palythoa heliodiscus has zooxanthellae, I would bet money (but not a ton!) that it feeds a fair amount on prey as well.

j.

 

[ficklefins]

sorry about the double post, I have no idea why that occured. Thanks for the depth info.

 

[jreimer]

few more pix at reefbucket

few more pix at reefbucket

If you go to the link I pasted way above (the reefbucket one) I have added a few pics of some other Palythoa species. I'll keep adding a few more each day until I've used my 50MB up...

Think I have some yellow Z.sansibaricus pix around too somewhere...

cheers,

j.

 

[ecotoxlady]

OMG!! This one is incredible!!!
http://www.reefbucket.com//files/47/Zoanthus sansibaricus/P8030286.JPG

I have never seen a pink PE like thise one
http://www.reefbucket.com//files/47/Zoanthus gigantus/P6180464.JPG

 

[Azurel]

They are all sweet.....I don't like threds like this cause it get the itch going....

 

[Reef Junkie]

It's really great to see how professional coral research is spilling over onto this board. We could all learn a lot from each other.

Great pictures!:thumbsup:

 

[jreimer]

more new pics

more new pics

Hey people,

Just posted a few more pics, a new Z. gigantus, plus two Isaurus photos, a new Palythoa heliodiscus shot, and some shots comparing Z. gigantus, Z. sansibaricus, and Z. kuroshio. Take a look here:

http://reefbucket.com/browse.php?action=info&userid=47

or just go to reefbucket and browse the members, click on "jreimer" and look at the public folders.

cheers,

j.

 

[surfnvb7]

these are HOT!

is this a rock you took back to the lab with you? something like this would fetch some good $$ here in the states

 

[jreimer]

Yep, a rock I collected diving, ended up preserving the majority of this one in ethanol. Have already analysed it too - def a Z. gigantus AKA PPE.

I start looking the prices of these things and get the shivers. Wonder what my sample collection (at about 400 now) would be worth live?!? Wow.

j.

 

[Azurel]

Great stuff J......Those reds are hot.

 

[cowcio]

surfnvb7... I believe Pure Captive sells those as "Red-Orange PE"

Their price is not bad at all.... actually it's great

 

[jreimer]

more new pics

more new pics

Have been absent for a bit from this forum - at the 1st Asia-Pacific Coral Reef Symposium this week in Hong Kong. Went diving here yesterday at some of the outlying islands - and there were a few zoanthids! Posted the pics at reefbucket.com, if you haven't read this thread, look at reefbucket under member "jreimer" and browse the public folders. The pics are in the two Hong Kong folders.

Hope you enjoy the shots!

cheers,

j.

 

[surfnvb7]

oh oh oh, i got a question...

how do the zoanthids look after being perserved in ethanol? i imagine that it only perserves the DNA, but they would shrivel up or something due to the difference in osmolarity?

 

[jreimer]

ethanol

ethanol

Hey surf,

Yeah, preserving in ethanol does shrink the polyps, they tend to close up pretty tight. The colors also fade with time. That's why in situ pics are important! But, once they are nicely pickled the DNA is kept relatively stable for 10plus years (or so I have read). If you want morphological only, then formalin does the trick, but wow it stinks!

j.

 

[surfnvb7]

Re: ethanol

Re: ethanol

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7603095#post7603095 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jreimer
Hey surf,

Yeah, preserving in ethanol does shrink the polyps, they tend to close up pretty tight. The colors also fade with time. That's why in situ pics are important! But, once they are nicely pickled the DNA is kept relatively stable for 10plus years (or so I have read). If you want morphological only, then formalin does the trick, but wow it stinks!

j.

yeah, i'm not a big fan of the formalin and stuff like it. i work with that stuff alot.

i would still love to see some research on how much palytoxin is in each particular species. i would think it would be pretty easy to do as long as you had access to HPLC, but i guess that would only show if its present, and not how much.