What is this?

[efrain torres]

looks like fungia baby, i have had one sprout from live rock like that once before

 

[whyzee429]

That makes two votes for fungia. I haven't been pointed in this direction yet so I looked it up. When it was smaller it looked exactly like some of the pics on Google Images. Thanks guys....now what do I do with it? Lol

 

[Hyprviperx]

if its fungia, sit back relax and enjoy the free coral... i love my fungia plate.... thats awesome it was a hitchhiker. wish i had hitchers like that, mine always end up as pests. there are a couple of corals like the fungia so if not fungia possibly another similar species. the one mouth makes me think fungia over the others plus the round shape of it. still trying to find the page for id's also if it is fungia i would think it is the long tenticle form of the species

 

[swannyson7]

In the newer pics, it doesn't appear to have a skeleton, so that would rule out a fungia/heliofungia. My best guess would be a LTA based on the striped pattern of the disc and the footing, but I'm not sure. Definitely appears to be an anemone of some sort though.

 

[Hyprviperx]

if it develops more mouths it could be this also "Lithophyllon"

 

[Hyprviperx]

In the newer pics, it doesn't appear to have a skeleton, so that would rule out a fungia/heliofungia. My best guess would be a LTA based on the striped pattern of the disc and the footing, but I'm not sure. Definitely appears to be an anemone of some sort though.

i have my fungia on a frag rack and it swells up and looks like that when its totally swollen. the skeleton wouldnt be visible unless it was totally shriveled, but from the look of all the tentacles its on full swell... the foot (or lack of a defined one) doesnt seem to grip the rock, it seems like its sitting on the rock and extending upward. http://www.seascapestudio.net/reference/corals/fungia_plate.jpg this pic looks like the topdown shot somewhat

 

[swannyson7]

I guess it's possible, I've just never seen a fungia swolen up that much. In the first pic on pg 2, it looks like it has a footing that's attached to the LR to me. Also, the tentacles seem awfully long unless it's a heliofungia, which generally have white bulbs at the tips of the tentacles.

 

[whyzee429]

Any help?

 

[swannyson7]

Is there a foot like an shroom/anemone or does it have a calcerous skeleton that has encrusted onto the rock?

 

[Hyprviperx]

ill have to see if i can find a picture of my fungia like that, it seems like mine swells so much that theres almost a rounded point at the bottom, almost like a top. mine will do it if it's feeding and a hermit is on the bottom of the frag rack (egg crate) it raises the tissue up to aviod the hermit from irritating it.

the edge/rim just looks so much like my fungia when its all swollen

 

[whyzee429]

It has a foot like a shroom or anemone, but has never walked or wandered.

 

[Hyprviperx]

ill post my picture but looking at pic 2 in this series id say fungia long tent. the tips have the bulbs like the one ill post and the skin looks so similar... im still trying to locate a pic of the bottom of my fungia

 

[whyzee429]

I fed it and my gtba a piece of mussel. "It" grabs on to food with the sticks tentacles that an anemone would normally possess. I was looking at my google images of fungia and found a few pics that looked exactly like this thing has in the past, with exception of color.

^ mushroom like with short, spiky entensions

And now, a more pronounced ribbed body with longer anemone-like tentacles.
Btw, mine is completely soft...no exoskeleton.

 

[Hyprviperx]

it seems like fungia especially with the ribbed body, mine feeds with the tentacles also, and the inside of the mouth of yours looks like its ribbed on the inside like a fungia. mine is also soft to the touch... it sounds like you have a free fungia, you cant beat that...

 

[donfishy]

i'm gonna have to vote LTA on this one

 

[whyzee429]

Definitely can't beat free (most of the time). I wish it kept the green/blue colors that it had when it was small. Some fungia have hard bodies, while others resemble mutated mushrooms? Lol

Just when I'm settled on fungia we get another LTA vote!

 

[whyzee429]

Different angle. Not the best, but cant hurt.

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Try "touching" the coral and if it retracts back to reveal some type of calcareous round body & flat shaped shell or body then it's definitely a Fungia. I've had hitchhiker fungia's before and if you target feed it some meaty food it'll grow to a full mature size coral!!

It does resemble a Fungia when it's fully expanded!!

Paul

 

[whyzee429]

Its completely soft in nature. When a current blows across it the whole thing waves. It retracts when touched, but it doesn't close like a zoanthid would

 

[whyzee429]

I LIED! I just touched it with a glass scraper so that I could lift it to see the underside. It is HARD! The waviness gave it the soft, mushroom-like appearance. It has a hard disc on the underside, but it's hard to
Photograph.