Coral? Sponge? Whatsit?

[texasreefrat]

Ok, got some nice liverock about a month ago through the mail. When it arrived I noticed it had a calcerious growth/Layer on some of the rock, which I thought was dead coral or possible dead sponge. After about two weeks in the tank it seemed to be growing a brown flesh, and I assumed it was a sponge for sure and was happy to see it returning. However, Today I got to looking at it and it has millions of small polyps all over it, all of which are brown in color. I dont know sponges but I didnt think they had polyps. I need assistance in possibly identifying this creature. Any or all comments are welcome.
PS: Several brown button and Green button polyps on this new rock too!

 

[adrian]

This is a shot in the dark, but it could be Porities sp., and sps that is often found on Fiji live rock. HTH

 

[cyn]

Must be another Texas thing, I have the same thing on some of my LR too, I signed on tonight to post for help with IDing the critter! Thanks so much Adrian!

 

[rhearrel]

I would like to see these things. You guys have a picture for us?

 

[predator]

I'v got something like your identifying.My'n were called rock poylps?I'm not sure of there genus or order name but they fit your description.But most of the time Adrian is right on.

 

[texasreefrat]

Special thanx to Adrian, Lord of the Reef!
You make this so much easier.

 

[adrian]

Glad I could help , although like I said its just a shot in the dark, with a picture we could probably make a positive ID.

 

[cyn]

Mine is so small, I doubt a picture would help. Right now, it is about the size of a quarter. If it continues to flourish, I will post a picture. Ditto on the thanks Adrian, you are a blessing to newbies like me!

 

[hondo]

I posted about something similar (I think) on my live rock several weeks ago. I had a rock with two "dead" hard corals on it. After several months in the tank I noticed the "dead" corals were covered with what looked like algea. But when I touch it or got close to it the "algea" retracts into the pores of the coral like sps ployps do. Upon close inspection it looks like small polyps like you would find on a SPS coral. I couldn't beleive that this coral stayed alive on the live rock during shipping and while it was at a local LFS but it is.