Zoanthus species and associated symbionts in the Aquarium

[Fcwham]

In response to Grandis' question in another thread I've compiled this information I hope you all find it useful in some way and/or it sparks discussion.

Grandis wrote:
"I would love if you could give us some examples here, with the Symbiodinium/ zoanthid's scientific names. Images, if possible. That would be great!!!"

Answering this is a little more difficult than you might think it should be because the taxonomy is a little messy but I'll try to simplify it so that we can have a discussion around it.

Host: Z. sansibaricus (AKA: Z. pacificus, Z. gnophodes, Z. erythrochloros but they are all one species and should be properly referred to as Z. sansibaricus)
Aquarium ID: Eagle Eyes, Wham'n Watermelon, Radioactive Dragon Eyes and many many more. Look for interconnected polyps with oral disks 6-10mm in size, often with pink ring around closed polyp but this is not always present so shouldn't be used as diagnostic. This may be the most common type of Zoanthus in the aquarium trade because its range extends from Africa to the Galapagos, and from Japan to Australia.
Known Symbionts: Primary symbiont Symbiodinium C3ee-ff(AKA C1z Reimer 2008) high light adapted. Other Symbionts: A1 relative found in colonies that are under light and desiccation exposure at low tide and a yet unnamed Symbiodinium C type that is found in deep and shaded colonies.

Photo 1 Z.sansibaricus, Wham'n Watermelon

Photo 2Z.sansibaricus closed polyps



Host: Z. gigantus
Aquarium ID: PPE, RPE, basicly all the people eaters. They are often referred to as "Polys" this should be actively discouraged by the community as Poly is short for Polythoa and they are not part of the Polythoa Genus. They can be identified by their larger size, often having green mouths and may display a "stripped" pattern on the closed polyps. Oral disk ranges in size from 10-25mm, some individuals may even be larger.
Known SymbiontsUnnamed C1/C3 related Symbiodinum specific to Z.gigantus found in high light environments. DNA evidence suggests that it is closely related to C3ee-ff found in Z. sansibaricus which would explain its similar lighting preferences, more sampling needs to be done to see if there is a corresponding deep/shaded symbiont.
Picture 1Z.gigantus, RPEs photo credit James Reimer

Picture 2Z.gigantus with closed polyps photo credit James Reimer

 

[Fcwham]

If people find this interesting I can compile more descriptions, and I'm happy to return and update as new information comes. I'm actively researching Z sansibaricus so there may be some developments on that in the near future. I'd imagine that I could add, a few Polythoa species descriptions here as well as a hand full of other Zoanthus species descriptions

 

[A. Grandis]

Hey Fcwham:

Thanks very much for the answer!!
Yes, please go ahead with the additional descriptions...
Very interesting...
I really appreciate the effort!

Grandis.

 

[benjaminspades]

I have acrozoanthus for donation seeing as they are a little harder to find if someone wants to donate for shipping

 

[A. Grandis]

I have acrozoanthus for donation seeing as they are a little harder to find if someone wants to donate for shipping

Nice!!! Pics please?
Grandis.

 

[Fcwham]

I have acrozoanthus for donation seeing as they are a little harder to find if someone wants to donate for shipping

Where are you located? If you are in the US I'll send you a tube with DNA preservative and you can send 3 polyps in that back to me. They ship in bubble mailers at a cost of like $1.25.

 

[Fcwham]

Damn I can't edit the first post anymore? I'd like to add more there and change Polythoa to Palythoa.

 

[benjaminspades]

You got PM

 

[benjaminspades]

 

[benjaminspades]

Btw that isn't my ppicture but this is what mine look like under atinics. The tentacles are more yellowish/brownish

 

[A. Grandis]

Oh yeah!!!
Very nice!!!

Grandis.

 

[Fcwham]

PM returned, thanks I'm not aware of any tests of the symbiodinium associated with acrozoanthus but I'd be happy to check it out.

Anyone know how to edit a previous post, I'd like to add a few more species but I'd hate to stick them here at the bottom of the page.

 

[erictorres0311]

what are these called?

 

[A. Grandis]

Is is very likely an Acrozoanthus sp.
No cartoon names here, please! :hmm4:
I would like to see other pictures.

Grandis.

 

[benjaminspades]

They are called benjamin's Acrozoanthus lol. Those types don't have a name ALSO I'm going to send you something crazy I'll let you reveal it to everyone after you're done

 

[benjaminspades]

For the sake of science and fun! And thank you for doing this it's very interesting to me

 

[erictorres0311]

im assuming the cartoon names would be something like bam bam, joker etc? ..... and like the info and pic very interesting indeed

 

[benjaminspades]

The tubes are coming! Will keep you guys updated

 

[Fcwham]

Thank you BenjaminSpades for volunteering to send those to me.

In researching our collections here as well as publications from James Reimer I've found a few holes in out knowledge about zoanthid symbiotic assosiations. You indicated that you could send other things as well so below I've compiled a list of potentially interesting samples that you or really anyone in the aquarium community might be able to provide. If you happen to be able to supply anything that is on this list I'd be particularly interested. Obviously the field of genetics is just now scrapping the surface of coral/symbiodinium diversity so in many ways I dont even know what the most interesting questions are yet, these are just the ones I can think of that could be easily answered at the moment.

1) A Z. sansibaricus colony/color morph that is in two differant places in your tank and doing well in both, particularly a high light and low light position. Alternativly, two Z. sansibaricus of differant color morphs that are in high and low light would work too.

2) Z. pulchellus any variety, while the zoanthid is charicterized in (Reimer et al. 2012) I can not find any record of the symbiodinium type it assosiates with so simply IDing the symbiont would provide a first record of its assosiation. (ID for Z. pulchellus: official scientific description is polyps of 4-6mm in diameter , height of 4-30mm and 50-60 tentacles. I however have observed larger polyps. You may recognize them as Zoanthids that have the general morphology of Armor of God, Armagedon, Bowser, Candy Apple Red, DayTrippers, Goochsters as well as others. They are generally larger than Z. sansibaricus[eagal eyes, wham'n watermelon etc...] but smaller than Z. gigantus and Z. solanderi [PPE, RPE etc...] generaly they do not have green mouths or large stripes on their closed polyps.)

3)Z.solanderi, I cant find record of their symbiotic assosiation either and I dont have a sample of it. (ID for Z.solanderi: generaly fitting into the "People Eater" group, this is the Caribbean sister species to Z gigantus so you can look at my first post in this thread and read a detailed discription. The trick here is knowing that the colony originated from somewhere in the Caribbean rather than the pacific, that information isnt always available to aquarist but I'm sure somebody has a colony with known origin.

Im going to compile the results to submit to a reef aquarium magazine, but I'll update here as I do the genetics on the samples in the case people are interested in how that process works.

 

[benjaminspades]

Thanks for giving us knowledge I totally appreciate it! Here's one of the things I plan on sending you what would this be considered as?