Let's try that again--lab photos of unknown coral.

[MixedFruitBasket]

Apparently the files were to big and I didn't realize they got dropped.

 

[Softhammer]

What’s unknown? Looks like a regular dendronepthea.

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

What’s unknown? Looks like a regular dendronepthea.

Nope. it's not. I hadn't been able to ID it so I sent photos to a biologist who co-wrote the book on soft corals. He said there were aspects about it that he'd never seen before (there are large spaces between the sclerites) and I've been trying to get photos good enough for him to analyze. Also, it appears to have brown in the polyps at the base and some of the stem, which suggests photos synthetic. It behaves like an almost completely photosynthetic coral. He said he thought it could be a Stereonephthya except for the odd spaces. The polyps are also behave like tube worms. Grabbing, popping in and out, very quickly at times. "Pulse" if you will.
Conclusion? Possibly a whole new species, he doesn't know yet. He's going to send stuff off to another expert in the field then let me know if he needs tissue samples.

 

[Softhammer]

No kidding. Very cool. Where’d ya get it?

 

[Katrina71]

Very cool! Congrats!

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

No kidding. Very cool. Where’d ya get it?

I picked three specimens up at my lfs(2 hours away). He sold them to me as Kenya trees. The one is definitely Stereonephthya the other two? Hoping the pictures can solve that mystery.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Nope. it's not. I hadn't been able to ID it so I sent photos to a biologist who co-wrote the book on soft corals. He said there were aspects about it that he'd never seen before (there are large spaces between the sclerites) and I've been trying to get photos good enough for him to analyze. Also, it appears to have brown in the polyps at the base and some of the stem, which suggests photos synthetic. It behaves like an almost completely photosynthetic coral. He said he thought it could be a Stereonephthya except for the odd spaces. The polyps are also behave like tube worms. Grabbing, popping in and out, very quickly at times. "Pulse" if you will.
Conclusion? Possibly a whole new species, he doesn't know yet. He's going to send stuff off to another expert in the field then let me know if he needs tissue samples.

Thanks for sharing, comrade, beautiful coral

 

[najer]

Gorgeous corals.

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

Gorgeous corals.

Thanks. I consider myself extremely lucky to have snagged them.