whats the difference between Zoas and paly's?

[loopy101]

can some one tell me what the difference is between Zoanthids and palythoas? was just looking around at different websites looking for some rare corals. and was just curious to see what the difference between these two types of corals.
thanks in advance!!

 

[spanko]

From;
Zoanthids
Coral? Anemone? Both? Neither?
by Eric Borneman
Class: Anthozoa
Subclass: Zoantharia
Order Zoanthidea
Family: Zoanthidae
Genus: Zoanthus, Palythoa, Protopalythoa, Isaurus, Sphenopus, Parazoanthus, Epizoanthus, Acrozoanthus
Zoanthus are normally much smaller polyps and they do not incorporate sediment into their bases.
Palythoa species are recognized by having a coenenchyme that contains bits of debris and reef elements that help to support the polyp.
Protopalythoa is different from Palythoa in that the polyps are not immersed in the coenenchyme. They are undoubtedly closely packed together, but they remain individual.
Also let me google this for you....
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Zoanthids%3A+Po...te+as+a+button

 

[stanlalee]

for casual identification palythoa are larger and respond much more to feeding/flow ect. I'm pretty sure palythoa are a subfamily of the zoanthid family (as are zoanthus, yellow polyps ect).
the palythoa are the big ones.