Common and Vender/Hobbyist Coral Names

[gerajn01]

Okay peeps... Here we go... I know this is a long shot but I'm hopping for the best. My goal is to create a log of Commen vs. Vendor/Hobbyist Coral names for us novice reefers to refrance. I know I speak for many when I say THIS NAME GAME IS OUT OF CONTROL... But... I'm not here to speak to either side of that heated debate. I'm only trying to provide the Hobbyist with a few more rounds of ammo/education. That being said... There is NO SOURCE of tying corals characteristics to the names vendors are selling them as. I'm looking for anyone to provide me reliable (no necessarily concrete) information on WHAT makes "this" coral an "Exosphere Zoa"... And so on and so on. I know the list is daunting but we have to start somewhere so we have a chance in this battle. Feel free to respond, message me on R2R or hell... Even text me at 260.888.5282 and thanks so much in advance for considering. I've asked multiple vendors for assistance and it's like I'm asking for a secret family recipe. Nobody wants to help me out. Be the change Happy Reefing!

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Like you want name plus description?
Check out

Zoabrary (Zoanthid ID) The Zoanthid Library

Zoabrary is a Zoanthid Library to help Identify Zoanthids and Palythoas

www.zoabrary.com

And

Identification Gallery

Our exhaustive list of well-known polyps.

shop.zoanthids.com

 

[Reefing_addiction]

With all the morphs that happen in tanks though it could get interesting

 

[gerajn01]

Like you want name plus description?
Check out

Zoabrary (Zoanthid ID) The Zoanthid Library

Zoabrary is a Zoanthid Library to help Identify Zoanthids and Palythoas

www.zoabrary.com

And

Identification Gallery

Our exhaustive list of well-known polyps.

shop.zoanthids.com

Ye, that is my goal. Just trying to identify names with characteristics. Thanks so much for the links! Definitely going to check them out

 

[elysics]

How would you solve the problem of two zoa varieties that obviously came from the same spot in the ocean, possibly from two neighboring rocks, but that are not genetically identical so one will have a wider color ring or more vivid colors than the other?

Those tiny differences account for a huge chunk of the varieties

If we want to recognize those differences, then I think anything but asking for the genetic lineage of the frag back to it's name bearing mother colony is not going to be super accurate.

If we don't, then there go many many varieties, including some that don't even look all that similar

And that doesn't even account for morphs yet

 

[MaxTremors]

How would you solve the problem of two zoa varieties that obviously came from the same spot in the ocean, possibly from two neighboring rocks, but that are not genetically identical so one will have a wider color ring or more vivid colors than the other?

Those tiny differences account for a huge chunk of the varieties

If we want to recognize those differences, then I think anything but asking for the genetic lineage of the frag back to it's name bearing mother colony is not going to be super accurate.

If we don't, then there go many many varieties, including some that don't even look all that similar

And that doesn't even account for morphs yet

It really is a pointless endeavor. Different corals look different under different conditions under different lighting. There’s just no consistent or sure fire way to identify each coral, there are no standards and it’s impossible to define standards (other than dna testing).

 

[gerajn01]

How would you solve the problem of two zoa varieties that obviously came from the same spot in the ocean, possibly from two neighboring rocks, but that are not genetically identical so one will have a wider color ring or more vivid colors than the other?

Those tiny differences account for a huge chunk of the varieties

If we want to recognize those differences, then I think anything but asking for the genetic lineage of the frag back to it's name bearing mother colony is not going to be super accurate.

If we don't, then there go many many varieties, including some that don't even look all that similar

And that doesn't even account for morphs yet

I guess it just depends on how in-depth the buyer is wanting to go. But for the purpose of my research and database (that I hope to have some day), it would be labeled as a slight/small/large/major/what-have-you variant of said coral. Not devaluing the coral but simply explaining its characteristics and idk about you but I'm totally fine with coral being labeled as a "blank" morph. In fact, I prefer it rather than someone trying to stick another name on the coral. Just my opinion.

 

[MikeCrown]

I think this could be done and plenty of people would find the information interesting, if not useful in some way. I often wonder where my zoa comes from. Any hope of doing this realistically I think look more like a collection of interested hobbyist. The process would be slow and data could be immense. You could have several starting points of data collection with each one getting more difficult but providing better data.

I think you would need to have a source control and start there. Sounds like the Zoabrary people are passionate about this so they might be good to reach out to. I will just explain a few scenarios that might yield some results.

1. Hobbyist: I would think the only real control you can collect data on is lighting and depth below the lights. If there is enough interest then there would need to be some standard of lighting. That might include brand, settings, type. For depth develop several bans of depth that people might be keeping their zoas in. Off course a dedicated hobbyist and generally healthy tank would be needed. Now you need to pick your zoa, again this would be nice to be able to control. On the hobbyist level there could be a coral company that would be willing to sale X number of certain frags to a control group of people that are wanting to take part in this. Everyone starts with a plug with some standard photography approach in place and start gathering data. Where it gets interesting is if your different control groups with different lighting and depths that are uniform within that group starts to show differences from other groups. Now there might be some data that turns heads. Results might look like if you keep Zoa A under these lights and at X depth they show better color of the other groups.

2. Collectors: If you can get the coral sellers onboard, then they can start getting data from the collectors, this is likely going to have to be higher up the chain then your local LFS. If you find there is enough interest you might run across some University type that might help with the project. Imagine following the presumed zoa from the actual reef all the way to how it looks under different lights.

Clearly it is an immense project, but that is no reason to not make the effort if there is the interest in doing so. I would think the steps would be 1. finding those interested 2. developing control standards 3. find source for control zoas 4. Develop the study protocol, and see what you find. A small trial run could be a proof of concept for the study. If a few zoas are done this way and show significant data then interest will grow. Of course, you also start the massive data base of how the same zoa looks under different lights. I would think if you could get 5 to 10 reefers in a control group you might have some data that is meaningful but you need your stats guy to answer that.

There no doubt is a ton more variables but I do not think those are even realistic to try to track. Maybe high/low flow? And what does that mean? However, if you can show that tracking two main ones shows reliable/reproductive data then the study will be on to something.

Mike