is this a pipe organ?

[jck9]

im not sure if its pipe organ. it just started to grow on one of my rocks. i think it is but it may also be anthelia. thanks for any help


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...ipe_organ1.JPG

[Hormigaquatica]

Looks more like Anthelia or Clavularia to me

[icu2]

All depends on whether or not there is skeleton beneath the flesh; pipes have a skellie- softies dont. Hard to tell exactly in that pic.

[Echidna09]

Pipe organs are a softie. I can't really tell from the pic. Do the polyps expand at night or day?

[jck9]

pollyps are out during the day. dosent anthelia grow from a mat? this is more of a pipe looking base rather than a mat.

[jck9]

just touched the base of it and the part that the pollyps come out of is a hard tube with flesh around it. the tube area is a dark redish pink and the pollyps are a very light pink, so i assume its pipe organ than?

[flipteg]

that's definately clove polyps...

[icu2]

From LiveAquaria:

The Pipe Organ Coral is a soft coral, but is often referred to as a hard coral because of its red calcareous skeleton. Its common names may also include Organ Pipe Coral, or Daisy Coral. When its polyps are open, it is often confused with the star polyps or clove polyps because of their similar appearance. These corals do have the advantage over the other similar looking soft corals in that they will not spread across the rocks and crowd out other species.

[Lotus99]

It does look like it might be a very short organ pipe coral. Are the polyps coming from circular discs that are attached to the hard tubes?

[jck9]

yeah kind of.

[gh0st]

You can just barely see the red tube skeleton underneath, so it looks like it is a Pipe Organ.

[Hormigaquatica]

OK, I looked at it closer, and it looks like it Might be Tubipora. Any chance you could get a closer, clearer photo of it? That would go a long way to helping a positive ID.

[jck9]

my camera is not that good at taking close pics. thats about the best i can do. im pretty sure it is pipe organ. it has hard tubes at the base and they are a dark red. i never thought to feel the base but when i did it made me pretty sure it is tubipora. hormigaquatica where about in columbus are you? i live just east of reynoldsburg

[Hormigaquatica]

Originally posted by jck9
my camera is not that good at taking close pics. thats about the best i can do. im pretty sure it is pipe organ. it has hard tubes at the base and they are a dark red. i never thought to feel the base but when i did it made me pretty sure it is tubipora. hormigaquatica where about in columbus are you? i live just east of reynoldsburg

Welp, if its got hard red tubes, then youre probably right about it being Tubipora then.

Im on the east side, but not quite That east. Between Bexley and Whitehall.

[Lotus99]

The way I'd describe my tubipora's tubes is "plasticy." They feel like they're something manmade, oddlly enough.

Mine likes low flow and fairly bright light.