Coral Identification Project

[BlennyBabe]

Ok, It was suggested that I post the pictures of the corals I am trying to identify. So here you go.

Here is the first coral. Im pretty positive I know what it is, but who knows I could be completly off base here. Softies arent my specialty.

Coral #1

 

[spongebob lover]

uhh i know i know ... it's a leather .
hmm i'd say sarcophyton ... but i always get lost with the names hehe

 

[BlennyBabe]

Coral number 2

Here is the second installment

Top down view, best for color, I dont know why the others are off a little.

 

[BlennyBabe]

Coral Number 3

Here is the next one:

the color is off, but you can see the polyps easier this way.

Close up:

 

[Anthony Calfo]

the first is a Sarcophtyon, the last is a Klyxum and the center remains to been seen (closer pics needed, but then again... you are the best person to ID it with it in hand and comparfed to some good refernece books).

Please consider buying some good reference books on how to ID and care for corals before (ahem!) you buy your next coral

For soft coral, seek "Soft Corals and Sea Fans by Fabricius and Alderslade (2001)"

check our www.seachallengers.com for this and other hard to find books.

Also see my recommendations for "best of" books, articles, websites and links to very good discussions online in my sticky atop this forum called "Fav links..." (a wealth of knoledge and input there from many people)

best of luck/life

Anthony

 

[BlennyBabe]

These arent my corals. They are ones at point defiance aquarium. They are mostly aquired from other zoos and we dont have an ID on any of them. Im working on photographing them all and pinning down an ID for as many as I can while I am interning there.

They are all thriving and even have to be cut back every few weeks. They are doing quite well, I assure you.
Im trying to get my hands on the book you mentioned, but unfortunately, there isnt much money in the budget for new books. I would buy it myself, but its an unpaid internship and I need all the money I have left to pay for gas to get there.



Do you mind If I post other pictures? there are at least 10 or so others in the tanks that Im not sure on. I will be dissecting some and photographing through the scope to get a look at internal structure and spicules. I dont want to suck up your time, if other people need it. I just dont know where else I could get such good information.

Trust me, I am the research queen when it comes to adding a new anything to my personal tank. I have missed out on quite a few good deals at the reef store because I had to go home and research first. Oh well, its better than the alternative and having something you dont know anything about.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Anthony Calfo]

Hmmm... let me first apologize for being/seeming brusque. But also, please understand that it is perhaps worse still that the corals are in possession without so much as the most basic understanding of their Family name and needs by it. I trust and believe they are faring well, but that only proves how hardy they are my friend. And in a public forum, it is my obligation (if only self-imposed) to present information and advice that serves the masses.

Thus, I'd be remiss to glaze over the keeping of any such corals without the simplest understanding of their name, let alone their needs. It is literally the equivilent of saying that you are in possession of a mammal in your back yard but cannot say if it is a cow or a cat or without knowing if it eats grass or mice... but that it must be eating something because it is living well in your back yard. Puzzling

I don't want to berate the issue... but I'd be irresposnible to give you just a name for your coral without raising a flag that you need to know far more than a name to responsibly care for these (any) creatures... luck aside.

Poor funding just doesn't make sense to me either... any aquarium that can support life for such corals uses fnds that cost far more than a $30 book per month/year to operate. And short of this aquarium being on the precipice of crashing from poor funding (no sea salt for water changes, no food for corals, no monies for electricty, etc.)... I cannot fathom how this aquarium functions with inadequate funds to learn th ehusbandry needed for the unnamed animals yet chooses to take a chance and keep them anyways. There are many ways to glean the knowledge you need for husbandry here. Indeed, starting with a name.

On that point, yes... please do feel welcome to post more pics for help with IDs. And do consider my concern for the lack of information.

You are keeping three of the most noxious octocorals commonly held int he trade. You would/will learn that with more research of these ccreatures and it will/would unexplained and unecessary deaths of other weaker cnidarians kept/attempted in the display.

 

[GreshamH]

I'll donate "Soft Corals and Sea Fans" to the aquarium. Just send me a PM with the aquariums full shipping info and whom to send it to in care of.

 

[Anthony Calfo]

very generous... I am sure it will be appreciated. Kudos

 

[GreshamH]

I do 100% agree with your ID and learn prior to purchase mantra Anthony It's been mine for years as well.

 

[Anthony Calfo]

Indeed, my friend And it's no fun to play the heavy, but as the years click by, the reality of statistical survivability of these living creatures in inexperienced hands inspires the imperative (and imposing) tone we have with less experienced folks.

Some people realize sooner rather than later they need to arm themselves with information, the oxygen of understanding, before(!) they take live animals into their care... while other folks go longer by trading, taking (free or bought) live animals with scarcely a clue as to their needs or potential long term challenges (like the allelopathic aggression of these Alcyoniids and Neptheids here in this thread... that will kill numerous oter coral species in time).

I simply cannot fathom a reason for taking charge of unamed and unidentified animals... its playing with life in exceedingly risky ways.

Sadly... I've seen more than a few public aquariums run by aquarists that have brilliant hard science degrees... but less knowledge of animal husbandry than the LFS clerk earning minimum wage but is well or even better read on aquarium science issues. Sigh. At best, luck and the grace of God keep their animals alive for some months... years even (though with attrition of other less hardy species in the display most always)

 

[BlennyBabe]

Wow, I didnt know my post would cause such a stir.
Let me clarify some things:
As an intern I have to learn and contribute something lasting to the aquarium. I decided to do a photo documentary of every coral we have in the collection.
My boss is not the coral person. There is a full time staff person that is devoted the the corals in the collection. He does know the care and the requirements and ID of all the corals we have. He does not have the time to go through with me and tell me what everything is.
My boss and many of the other full time staff (cold water specialists) are not familiar with corals. I am constructing a sort of field guide to the corals we have so that they can learn about them.

I dont know much about the taxonomy of soft corals, so I thought I would ask around here. I had my guesses about what each genus was, but I thought I would leave it open to see what responses I got. It is easier for people to concur that it is a sinularia, but it takes one person to suggest something else that causes me to question and look deeper.

I am most familiar with hard corals and have IDed all the hard corals to genus (save a few).

What I meant about the no money for books comment was that there is a certain dollar ammount alloted to the zoo keepers each quarter and that the funds for this quarter have been exhausted (we renewed a subscription to a fish magazine and everyone else used the rest of the money). In another few months, when there is more money available, my internship will be over.

I have told the coral guy about the book you suggested as well as a number of others. He has alrady ordered a few but they are backordered.

Anyway, since I dont have the book resource I thought you would be helpful (and indeed you are)

 

[BlennyBabe]

More corals

Next up for your considderation is this commonly called cabbage or lettuce leather

I believe this to be a similar species despite the color change

(sorry for the poor quality on this one, its a top down picture that has been cropped to show only the coral in question)



Number 6 I suspect sinularia

 

[Anthony Calfo]

Ah... understood. The expanded explanation does give some relief. Indeed, I took my tangent from the "no money for books" comment. Its not uncommon for that to literally be the explanation given by newbies.

As for the additional photo IDs... a mix of Sinularia and likely Lobophtyum. Correct ID can be made from a small tissue sample (bleached to yield spicules) and compare them to the images in the Alderslade book.

best of luck/life,

Anthony