Polpys vs Zoas

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#1
Jul 29, 2004
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Well I came back to check on the thread in the coral section, but to my surprise no more coral section!

I asked this question in reply to Camaro but it was based of some words in his post that I cant remember lol. Camaro you wouldnt want to help me out and maybe answer that question again. IF you dont its ok, just thought id ask lol.

I had a quesiton in response to your answer to this question:

Polyps vs Zoas
 

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#2
Oct 22, 2002
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#2
yah i can try...it wont be exactly the same im sure but here is the gist of it:

"polyps" is a term commonly used to refer to zoanthus, protopalythoa, palythoa, parazoanthus, even pachyclavularia (GSP) and clavularia at times...that broadness can really cause some confusion because someone may say "my polyps did this" speaking of one of the above groups while somebody else answers regarding another...generally the care requirements of each are pretty similar so it isn't a major problem, but there is the potential for some headaches there

however, it gets worse:

polyps may also refer to the individual feeding polyps on SPS and soft corals as well as the big heads on many LPS corals

therein lies the greater problem with "polyps":

it is a term with many different "meanings"...personaly, I think it should be used to refer to the feeding polyps extended by many corals and not used to refer generally to zoanthids, etc...now that said, zoanthus, etc. are indeed polyps as those little wiggly guys are the feeding polyp...the whole darn thing is a confusing mess of verbiage because "polyps" is basically a word which has come to mean so many things in the hobby.

as far as zoas vs zoos: zoas is short for "zoanthids", zoos is short for "zooanthids"...a misspelling of zoanthids

I think you got more than you did the first time...reckon i was feeling verbose. Wonder why they didn't save the inverts section posts....
 

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OCCFan023

OCCFan023

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#3
Jul 29, 2004
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#3
Yea i was surpirsed to see it gone that quickly.

I was gonna ask do zoanthus, protopalythoa, palythoa, parazoanthus, even pachyclavularia (GSP) and clavularia apply to individual corals (polyps) aswell as the polyps on LPS and SPS corals, or do the polyps on LPS and SPS corals just take the name of the coral its on overall?

Yea i agree with you on the naming system, this is pretty darn confusing. I think what you said about using polyps as a term for the polyps extended from corals. And then I guess have the other polyps (like zoas) have individual names.

Thanks for the repost Camaro
 

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#4
Oct 22, 2002
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#4
hmm...if I understand your question here is the answer:

On zoanthus, etc. "polyp" should refer to the individual polyp e.g. "I have a zoanthid colony with 37 polyps"

On soft corals polyps are the little tentacles you see coming out of the strucutre of the coral. On your leather corals these may have greatly varying structure by species (Sinularia dura vs. Sacophyton) but they all pop out. On other soft corals the same is true (Cladiella, Nepthea, Capnella, etc)

On LPS coral we rarely here about polyps because generall each head is the polyp (think Euphyllia, Caulastrea, Scolymia, etc) but some examples do have many polyps on one skeletal structure including Gonipora and Tubastrea (each tentacle is a polyp) and Turbinaria (sometimes classified as SPS because of varying growth structure) and Mycedium (there are a bunch of polyps extending from the cup)

On SPS coral the polyps are usually tiny, sometimes microscopic, and they extend out of the hard bumps on the surface of the coral. Acropora provides an example of an SPS with relatively large polyps while Montipora (esp. capricornus and similar) tend to have smaller polyps.

To add to the mess, really the division of hard corals into SPS and LPS is not based on science, its just based on hobby folk doing their thing again. Some LPS have smaller polyps than other SPS.
 

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OCCFan023

OCCFan023

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Jul 29, 2004
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1979camaro

1979camaro

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#6
Oct 22, 2002
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#6
#1) not each of the white tips, but each of the main skeletal pieces with a mouth; see how on this hammer coral there are five distinct heads...those heads are also known as polyps: http://www.akvarieudstyr.dk/images/koralbilleder/Euphyllia-Parancora.jpg

#2) precisely...but note that they aren't really individual stalks in this case (unlike Euphyllia), they are connected by a single mat which covers a hard skeleton. The coral as a whole is called Tubastrea or "Sun Coral"

#3) precisely
 

lordroad

lordroad

Large Fish
#7
Sep 2, 2004
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#7
Wow, what an enlightening thread. I never even realized I was confused about polyps/zoas, lol

I have two soft corals, brown "button" polyps (zoas) and green star polyps, GSP. The zoos are individual polyps and individual corals amalgamated on one rock while the GSP is one coral mat, purple, with green grass-like polyps that extend.

Good info.

On a semi-hijacking sidenote, I pulled out a handful of scroll algae today, camaro. Stuff is covering almost half my tank and shading out my polyps. After my weeding, the rock still looks like it's in full bloom. I broke off some and gave it to a buddy, but they didn't take... his system was flawed, though, new, uncycled, and high with ammonia.

Going to try to grab an ear by the roots next time... the ears are so big, one single ear can fit in your hand, easy.
 

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