Photosynthetic gorgonian?

[LgTas]

Not the greatest pictures but I'm trying to confirm if this is a photosynthetic gorgonian. Looks similar to the ones I already have but the LFS couldn't confirm.

Purchased for a sea horse tank I'm I'm the process of scaping .

 

[KrisReef]

I saw a similar post recently and someone replied very tersely kinda like; "You should never buy something living what you don't know what it is, its habits, its food, light, bedtime and pronoun requirements..."

If it needs live food it can be good company with the seahorses? Hope it works out. It is beautiful and I would have taken a stab rather than just leaving it at the LFS to languish. GL, and know animosity hidden or veiled or inferred in my response. Just wanted to give this thread a bump and start the covo and hopefully that gorg lives many long years with your ponies!

 

[LgTas]

Totally expect that. The full story is I already keep nps coral and went into this with hope it's photosynthetic (based on all the reading I did) but with the back up plan to move it to the nps system if not.

 

[LgTas]

While I'm on the subject. Why don't collectors and wholesalers label their collections better so that LFS know what they're selling. All the self righteous pressure on us to ensure we do the right thing.

Any gorg ID?

 

[MaxTremors]

While I'm on the subject. Why don't collectors and wholesalers label their collections better so that LFS know what they're selling. All the self righteous pressure on us to ensure we do the right thing.

Any gorg ID?

Because a lot of collectors don’t know exactly what they’re collecting, some commonly collected species are easy to identify but there are a lot that are more difficult to identify. Importers are supposed to ID the exact species of the corals they import, but it’s not like customs is going to tell the difference between different species of gorgonians/corals, if we have a hard time IDing them, how well do you think they’d do? That said, I’m pretty sure that gorg is photosynthetic.

 

[LgTas]

if we have a hard time IDing them, how well do you think they’d do?

Being professional companies (at least here in Aus) I'd hope they were better at IDing them than hobbiests, just like I'm better at IDing plants as a professional botanist than someone who presses flowers for fun.

 

[Paul B]

"Usually" the brown ones are photosynthetic. The colorful ones are always not photosynthetic

 

[dk2nt9]

Try image search for "purple gorgonian" and compare to yours. Shape, branching, thickness of the branches, polyp distribution, intensity of color. Then do the same for possible species name, if more matches, good, at least you have some idea about what it could be. Could be Eunicea sp.

In my LFS all similar purple gorgonins were sols as photosynthetic. I had one in the past, no special care or feeding, only grows too tall.

 

[LgTas]

Thanks for the input. Took a bit of searching beyond the google search 1st page so thought I'd post direct links. Everything I read suggests brown polyps are more likely to contain zooxanthellae. I've also noticed that polyps open with light and close when dark, possibly another indicator towards being photosynthetic.

closest identification I found was one that looked almost identical to mine: https://www.tidalgardens.com/stock-purple-plume-sea-fan.html

also a more technical field key.
Field Review Paper

 

[tripdad]

A mostly correct rule of thumb is polyp color. If the polyps are tan/brown then it is likely photosynthetic, if they are bright white or deeply colored then likely not photosynthetic.

 

[Subtropic Reefer]

"Usually" the brown ones are photosynthetic. The colorful ones are always not photosynthetic

Not always true. There are a few species of photosynthetic red and yellow gorgonians here in florida. They are rare but I see them.

 

[Paul B]

Exactly which is why I said "usually"