Hitchhiker ID

[musty baby]

This was on the bottom or a lobophyllia colony I've had for several years. Through those years it has received very little light and only indirect feedings. In this pic it is full of cyclopeeze, I'll try to get a picture of it on an empty stomach so that hopefully the skeleton can be made out. Knowing this forum, it will have crapped out dinner well before anyone reads this :)

The polyp is about 3/8"-1/2" wide, the corallite skeleton about 3/16" diameter.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n287/ryansholl/corals/hitchhiker.jpg

[musty baby]

I suppose I should also say that I don't know if that is the full size of the polyp. I've been spot feeding it since I've found it and the polyp has grown considerably, haven't yet noticed a change in the skeleton size. It's a single corallite on a short stalk.

[musty baby]

What a waste of time this subforum is... I browse through and try to answer posts when I have some idea, but this is ridiculous. I'm just looking for a place to start from.

[jjmcat]

Astrangia maybe.

[erendon]

Give it time. I don't know where Sherman Hill is, but you posted at 6:07 AM, give time to the people that are not in the same time zone to read and write (maybe). Cup coral maybe? It's 1:42PM here in Chicago. It's Christmas time too so I'm willing to bet that people are sharing time with family and friends. Good luck.

[otiso777]

Looks like a Pseudocorynactis to me

[musty baby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11454491#post11454491 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by erendon
Give it time. I don't know where Sherman Hill is, but you posted at 6:07 AM, give time to the people that are not in the same time zone to read and write (maybe). Cup coral maybe? It's 1:42PM here in Chicago. It's Christmas time too so I'm willing to bet that people are sharing time with family and friends. Good luck.

I gave it a month :)

Thanks for the replies, folks, but I've since found a positive ID. It's a little coral that goes by Culicia tenella. Not uncommon in Australian waters, though this one didn't come from Australia.

[kiknchikn]

Looks like a corallimorph (mushroom coral) to me. Probably corynactis or pseudocorynactis as mentioned above. My guess is corynactis.

Here's a little more info about them:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2002/invert.htm

Are you sure it has a skeleton? A corallimorphs like the above mentioned ones will not.

[kiknchikn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11465740#post11465740 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kiknchikn
Looks like a corallimorph (mushroom coral) to me. Probably corynactis or pseudocorynactis as mentioned above. My guess is corynactis.

Here's a little more info about them:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2002/invert.htm

Are you sure it has a skeleton? A corallimorphs like the above mentioned ones will not.


Oh, oops I jumped the gun and missed the part where you said you found an ID :rollface: