Unknown hitchhiker coral.....

[VB68]

First off, if this is the wrong place for this post-Admins please move. My wife picked this piece up a few months backs. She got it for the soft corals that were on the the skeleton. The soft corals have been cut off since then. I have been chatting with a LFS owner and still have yet to get a solid ID on this. Started out as 3 very small green spots(thought they were mushrooms at first). After cutting off the soft corals, they have grown quite a bit. Just thought I would throw this out to the R2R community to get your thoughts on it. Thought it might be some kind of brain(marble brain???), but it does not appear to be forming a skeleton, just growing on a skeleton. Here we go, what do you think......

 

[kschweer]

Is that the skeleton that it came on?

 

[ritter6788]

Looks like a dead trachyphyllia skeleton with anthocauli growing out of it. Basically a dead open brain sprouting babies.

Not very common and very cool!

 

[VB68]

Is that the skeleton that it came on?

Yes

 

[VB68]

Looks like a dead trachyphyllia skeleton with anthocauli growing out of it. Basically a dead open brain sprouting babies.

Not very common and very cool!

Any idea what kind of brain? Shouldn't it be forming a skeleton of it's own? LFS guy at first thought it might be a marble brain, but I can't find any pics of one.

 

[kschweer]

I would say trachophillia brain. It most likely is not creating its own skeleton because it has the "old" one to grow on

 

[ritter6788]

Any idea what kind of brain? Shouldn't it be forming a skeleton of it's own? LFS guy at first thought it might be a marble brain, but I can't find any pics of one.

Trachyphyllia radiata (or something similar) the old name for them Welsophyllia is what they are some times called. Welsophyllia is still used in the hobby but it's not a scientific name anymore. It was most likely an open brain that died for some reason and the skeleton decalcifies to form new offspring called anthocauli. Fungia plate corals do this all the time. It's rare in trachys but it is possible.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/trachyreproart.htm

The skeleton will probably take a long time to develop.

 

[Stray32]

That's an awesome hitchhiker!

 

[robsreefs]

Best hitchhiker I've seen

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[VB68]

Trachyphyllia radiata (or something similar) the old name for them Welsophyllia is what they are some times called. Welsophyllia is still used in the hobby but it's not a scientific name anymore. It was most likely an open brain that died for some reason and the skeleton decalcifies to form new offspring called anthocauli. Fungia plate corals do this all the time. It's rare in trachys but it is possible.

TrachyReproArt

The skeleton will probably take a long time to develop.

That report sounds just like what has happened here. Thanks.

 

[VB68]

One more question- Should they be separated? Would they do better? They kind of lay on each other now.

 

[ritter6788]

One more question- Should they be separated? Would they do better? They kind of lay on each other now.

I'd leave them alone for now. The won't hurt each other. They may change positions for more or less light but I think they'll do fine where they are. If you start to notice a defined skeleton that you can easily remove then you can attempt to remove them from the rock.

 

[Zack]

Nice hitchhiker!

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[VB68]

I'd leave them alone for now. The won't hurt each other. They may change positions for more or less light but I think they'll do fine where they are. If you start to notice a defined skeleton that you can easily remove then you can attempt to remove them from the rock.

Thanks for your input and quick response. Helped alot

 

[tampasnooker]

Aw crumb, I was going to say Wellso... Ritter is right on the money about anthocauli. Cool survival technique. Plate corals and many Euphylia will do the same thing.