New Zoas in Florida......

[Dsdaley77]

Four new previously undescribed Zoas/Palys have been identified of the coast of Florida. Pretty cool, I really like the white butterflies and the purples/blue/green ones.

Four new species of zoanthids identified — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[buddythelion]

I didn't know vice morphs were new? But they do look much different that your everyday zoa.

 

[buddythelion]

Here's a longer article on Reef Builders:
No fewer than four new species of zoanthids discovered in Florida watersImpervious to white pox eh? Sounds like a great beginner's morph!

 

[Steven R]

Those butterflies are sick.

 

[Dsdaley77]

Those butterflies are sick.

Further info on "Unidentified ‘Butterfly’ Palthoas".

Recently while diving off of Key West, I was fortunate to come upon a rare and unidentified species of Palythoa. This was the first time that I have come upon this type in five years of frequent diving throughout the Florida Keys. Apparently it is less rare elsewhere in the Caribbean, but as of now has yet to be properly identified by a zoanthid taxonomist. On its particular patch of reef it was relatively abundant, despite being completely absent in seemingly identical reefs in the surrounding area. And while it might seem logical that it only takes one lucky zoanthid larvae to ultimately colonize a large area, it seems that there were at least 2 separate morphs cohabiting the area, which makes its complete absence from other nearby reefs compelling. And while Caribbean Palythoa display morphologies that seem to overlap, these particular Palythoa have a few traits that make it noticeably distinct:

Small size (1/4″-3/8″ disc diameter)
Translucent oral disc, often with teal-bluish iridescent sheen
Distinctive white splotch, often butterfly shaped
Eyelash-like tentacles
But considering that the morphologies of Caribbean Palythoa species seem to blur together, genetic analysis will be the most reliable way to determine species-hood. Fortunately our friend James Reimer is a zoanthid expert in Japan’s Ryuku Islands with access to such equipment and expertise. In addition to sending him samples of this Palythoa morph, we will also include a variety of other local Palythoa morphs to see just how distinct the individual species are.

 

[bct15]

The butterflies look a lot like the tesla palys I just got.

 

[Pkunk35]

I like those tesla palys, bct15!

 

[bct15]

Oops, sorry about the random pic of orange eye pectinia but yeah the tesla palys are very nice. Thanks for the complement.

 

[Dsdaley77]

Great pics, love the teslas but crushing on the WB's