The 'purple Linckia' is sometimes no Linckia at all, but rather the more-predatory star Tamaria stria --the latter are faster moving, and deploy orange tube feet from under its arms, rather than the clear-whitish tube feet of the Linckia.
True Linckia stars can be sluggish, and largely get by...
Hi.
Most filamentous red algae (like that red turf you have) can usually be identified only with microphotographs. I wouldn't sweat it, provided it isn't spreading aggressively.
:D
Your fear is not unfounded, ...hehe...
I've kept a few M. doreensis (most handed over to other aquarists, and a few returned to the precise reef whence they came. They can all take up quite some space!
:)
It's hard to measure growth with such animals: the oral disc and tentacles can be expanded and contracted at will.
Indeed, in certain cases, underfed animals will expand to get more sunlight, so that hosted zooxanthellae can phtosynthesize more starch and sugar for the animal.
I wouldn't cut...
Much better photo.
I believe it's Predaea
P. tumescens most likely, and a vividly-colored specimen too.
Below is a good-sized specimen --yours would be but a fraction of it.
(apologies to Chris Lobban, from whose UOG website the photo comes)
I'd try to anchor it too, but lightly. Any...
Hi Nikki,
There was no mention of movement (which would be the case with some disturbance), so it might not be clustered tunicates, but that's a good possibility to bring up :)
I doubt it's any of the Botryocladia ('Red Valonia') species --no visible stipe, and the 'globule' sizes are a bit...
Just an FYI, in case you wish to search for info on the 'net.
It is properly "manjano", rather than "majano", and info using either rendition can be found:
Anemonia manjano Carlgren 1900.
Oscar Carlgren must have been thinking of turmeric (Swahili word = "manjano") when he named the anemone...
Hi!
Pic's not quite clear enough for ID if it's an alga, and there's no size reference. How big is each li'l globule?
Does it change shape/contract, and how soft is it?
IIRC, for many anemones, white puffs means male gametes, while black dots indicate femlae gametes. Brown is either feces, excess zooxanthellae, or tissue ejecta.
:)
Hi, Heidi.
Nice pic!
That may not be a nudibranch
:D
The white to yellow line you occasionally see running dorsally may actually be a portion of a normally-concealed shell, and all that blackness may be the mantle extending up over the hell --when the mantle doesn't quite cover everything up...
A multicellular, green 'bubble alga' which can spread rapidly in high-nutrient systems. the appearance of lightened spots on the surface heralds reproduction, either by release of gametes or by spores.
Unlike other green 'bubble algae', this one is not entirely hollow inside: there is a network of
A gristly-brittle, branching and spinous alga. It grows rapidly and spreads rapidly primarily by means of fragmentation. Regarded as a problem alga in marine aquaria.