King spawns

[steve 1965]

I’ve been seeing a lot of adds out there for King Spawns. My question is what’s the difference between a King Spawn and a Frogspawn? Thanks

 

[mfinn]

I’ve been seeing a lot of adds out there for King Spawns. My question is what’s the difference between a King Spawn and a Frogspawn? Thanks

Looks to me from the pictures I've seen is similar to a octospawn.
I think it's just a vendors made up name.

 

[Baldyreef]

its an extremely subtle difference but kingspawn is more triangular with the dots

 

[Baldyreef]

kingspawn ^
vs
octospawn

 

[mfinn]

kingspawn ^
vs
octospawn

I have seen your picture and it does look a little different. But I've seen others that were identical to octospawns.
I love them all and if this is the new thing, then it's time for me to jump in.

 

[Baldyreef]

I have seen your picture and it does look a little different. But I've seen others that were identical to octospawns.
I love them all and if this is the new thing, then it's time for me to jump in.

its a slight difference if theres some identical ones its probably mislabeling, from what I understand kingspawn to typically command a higher price for their alleged rarity

 

[mfinn]

its a slight difference if theres some identical ones its probably mislabeling, from what I understand kingspawn to typically command a higher price for their alleged rarity

Where did you get yours?

 

[Baldyreef]

its a slight difference if theres some identical ones its probably mislabeling, from what I understand kingspawn to typically command a higher price for their alleged rarity

I unfortunately gave mine away during a tank breakdown but I got it from my lfs, I should also clarify that the photos I put for comparison are sourced from the internet, mine was a beautiful copper tone with blue dots, unfortunately I never took any photos of it

 

[Baldyreef]

If you plan on getting one I would say your best chance is local shows and fish stores or smaller sites

 

[Mr_Knightley]

So I know one of the guys who first imported true kingspawns, and they ARE very different from octospawns. They have almost arrowhead shaped tentacles studded on the edges instead of being stuffed all over, and have several times larger, often solitary heads 2-3" across. Idk if Gabe has fragged them or gotten them to bud, though I think he's obtained multi headed ones before. They seem a little more sensitive like a lot of coral from western Australia, and would likely appreciate cooler water temps.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

The above is not to say that people don't also use the name to jack up normal octospawns, but there is an actual difference with the real thing.

 

[Baldyreef]

So I know one of the guys who first imported true kingspawns, and they ARE very different from octospawns. They have almost arrowhead shaped tentacles studded on the edges instead of being stuffed all over, and have several times larger, often solitary heads 2-3" across. Idk if Gabe has fragged them or gotten them to bud, though I think he's obtained multi headed ones before. They seem a little more sensitive like a lot of coral from western Australia, and would likely appreciate cooler water temps.

I had two true kingspawn at one point from my lfs, the first died due to a swing in parameters, the second grew to about 3 heads before I broke down the tank it was in and gave it away to another reefer, from experience I would say they are extremely similair care to octospawn but are a little more delicate particularly to nutrients than octospawn

 

[rowenaad]

they are exclusively found in Western Australia and has a distinctive appearance (i never liked frogspawn but is very into kingspawns). in contrary to prev post, my LFS said they are more forgiving but i only started to collect them recently so cant testify on that. He also mentioned they will be getting their own classification soon, so i think they are genetically different

My babies

 

[mfinn]

I guess I will find out.
I did a search and found some that did look different, and some that IMO octospawns.

 

[Baldyreef]

they are exclusively found in Western Australia and has a distinctive appearance (i never liked frogspawn but is very into kingspawns). in contrary to prev post, my LFS said they are more forgiving but i only started to collect them recently so cant testify on that. He also mentioned they will be getting their own classification soon, so i think they are genetically different

My babies

How is the grafted kings pawn doing? Any photos more recent than your grafting thread? Would love to see how it’s going

 

[thamnasteroid]

As far as I know, they're probably a morph of (I believe wall) frogspawns that just have their acrospheres packed more closely together.

To preface this, the difference between frogspawns and octospawns is that frogspawns have their acrospheres bilaterally arranged on the tentacle, whereas the acrospheres of octospawns spiral around the tentacle stalk.

The acrospheres of kingspawns are arranged bilaterally, so they might be just frogspawns. If I recall correctly, the 2023 Euphylliidae revision study used a similar specimen as one of their samples, and identified it as a wall frogspawn (Fimbriaphyllia divisa).

Also, kingspawns don't only occur in Western Australia; I've seen (photos of) similar colonies in both the Coral Triangle and South Pacific/Coral Sea.
Fimbriaphyllia cf. divisa | New Caledonia | Credit: Damien Brouste

Fiji | Credit: @thamnasteroid (me!!)

Vanuatu | Credit: Sue Churchill

Peninsular Malaysia | Credit: Kok Lynn Chew

But who knows, tentacle morphology is really the only way of delineating Euphyllia/Fimbriaphyllia since the most of their species' skeletons are essentially identical, and the kingspawns' tentacles do have characteristics separating them from regular frogspawns. Could they represent a different species, or possibly be a hybrid between frog and octospawns? Maybe, it's certainly possible. The main problem then, if kingspawns are genetically separate is figuring out which morph is the true divisa, as the skeletons of king and frogspawns are (presumably) nearly identical, and Veron's figures show specimens of both morphs in his original description.

 

[kevgib67]

I’ve been in the hobby over 20 years and it wasn’t until the last couple weeks I began hearing about kingspawns. The first time I thought it was a typo. I’m going to Fragenstien next weekend, I’ll grab one if any of the vendors have any.