Very strange coral

maxalmon

maxalmon

Active Member
I have no idea what this is. History is this. I have no idea how I got this coral, but I sold it to a fellow reefer maybe year and half ago, he decided to get out of the hobby and now it's back with me. I think I got this from a Guy in Key West, possible FL coral.
It's not an encursting coral and will not attach to anything, the other guy tried for a year and nothing, also, it always looks like this, kinda brownish with polyps that look like a halfopen paly. the bottom is ultra smooth, almost like the bottom of a shoe, the coral has a feel of hard leather, the plolyps are are actually kinda hard, very tough coral. It's about 3"L
Any idea's ?
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
IMO it is likely a Palythoa that is retracted. Do image searches for P. caribaeorum, P. tuberculosa, P. caesia....to start
 
maxalmon

maxalmon

Active Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
IMO it is likely a Palythoa that is retracted.

BUt it always looks like this, it never expands/retracts, doesn't have tentacles, plus it's rather rubbery in texture, like leather. The polyps in the picture are stiff...
 
sharkbait9

sharkbait9

Active Member
Originally Posted by maxalmon
BUt it always looks like this, it never expands/retracts, doesn't have tentacles, plus it's rather rubbery in texture, like leather. The polyps in the picture are stiff...
go on line and look for marine science center or an aquarium and see if they can not ID it.
We used to have a marine science center out her by me on Sandy hook.
Good luck… its kind of cool looking, never seen something like that.
 
mscarpena

mscarpena

Member
I do not know the sceintific name if it, but it is a type of paly that is from the Pacific. I have seen them called a sea mat. Check out John H Tulloks natural reef aquariums book page 85 and there is a pic that is that exact coral. I have also seen them in a green and brown color. Nice coral, but seems to grow slowly. Hope this helps.
 
E

eaglefan

Guest
It looks pretty cool, almost like a cluster of barnacles. I know it's not though.
It will be interesting to find out more about it.
 
maxalmon

maxalmon

Active Member
I looked up all the ones you listed (thanks for the info
) Yes, they look close, but I swear, whatever this is, it always looks like the photo 24-7-365, never expands and never retracts and it does not attach or try to encrust anything, I'll take a photo of the bottom, it's smooth and it's not a substrate that it's attached to, it's actually the coral's base, as the original colony was cut in half and it took me a while to cut thru the tissue. This is a free floating, free moving coral and has been for over a year and a half.
 
maxalmon

maxalmon

Active Member
Correct, it's the same size now as it was a year and half ago. Could this be some type of deeper water coral? It's just about lights on time, I'll take more detailed pics a little later. Thanks for your help
 
isistius

isistius

Active Member
max, i have something almost identical coral in my tank. i was under the assumption that they were "sea mats" i will try an get a picture of mine tonight. extremely slow growers. and for the better part of the 18months that i had it in my 135, under 150w mh's they didn't open. they didn't die either. however, since being moved to my 54, and being under 5x39w t5's they are always open, and have even grown some. i have seen them from time to time on that drs site.
 
isistius

isistius

Active Member
i took this pic while it was under my mh's. i don't have any batteries charged right now, so i will post some from under my t5's soon.
 
viper_930

viper_930

Active Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
IMO it is likely a Palythoa that is retracted. Do image searches for P. caribaeorum, P. tuberculosa, P. caesia....to start

What she said ^
 
princess8077

princess8077

Member
Dunno...look sorta like half dead sun polyps to me. Retracted they are very hard. When they come out some they're softish. I'm fairly new to this but that's what it looks like to me.
 
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