Favia or No?

[Raamiah]

So I recently saw a video of a favia feeding (somewhere) and now I'm questioning as to whether the coral I have is a Christmas favia like I was told or something else. I have never seen it with sweeper tentacles like I saw on the video the other day. Instead it has these "mouths" that open up and send out these "hands" or "fans" When the fan comes out the base of it appears yellow and there are 5-7 fingers that come out and spread out catching particulates I guess and then it shoots back in. Here is a video I just shot to show you what I'm talking about. It's not the best angle but you can see dead center when this "hand" comes out and the base turns yellow.

Thoughts?

Here ya go:

 

[IPisces]

My thoughts are...thats not the coral. You have something else living in there!

 

[kevnkev]

The "hands" are the filter-feeding legs of a barnacle planted in between favia polyps. Definitely a positive hitchhiker! They orient so that their legs face into the current, gather particles, then pull the legs down to pass food to their mouths. Barnacles spend their adult lives upside down with their head cemented to the rock, so that's why these are legs sticking out instead of arms

 

[Raamiah]

Thanks Kevnkev! There are two or three of those guys in the favia but that one is by far the largest and most active of the 3. I just thought this whole time they were the feeders of the favia.

 

[1guydude]

+1 about them being barnacles. I think barnacles are actually crabs upside down and all those frizzly hands are actually on their legs.