CR Member
WHAT ARE THESE THINGS?? EGGS PERHAPS?? Please Help ID
Hey all,
My Cleaner shrimp was hanging out in my green star polyps this afternoon....when I looked later I saw all of these little purple spheres everywhere. Some are in the poylps and others are suspended in the water by strands of goo... making me think they are eggs of some sort... but from what?
If you have any ideas as to what these are please let me know.
CR Member
Looks to me like your polyps are releasing gammets...
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CR Member
I thought of that too at first....but its not all over the polyps....just in the low lying areas of that rock. Cant find anywhere on the net about this kind of reproduction in polyps. Everything says they are a "creeper"
More digging....... if anyone has any other hypothesis, id like to hear it.
GT
CR Member
Gammets? What are those? This is really interesting to me. I guess I'd better get reading as well. What has happened to them since the pictures have been taken?
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Any chance it was the cleaner shrimp who released the eggs? Angel, gammets are another term for eggs/future larva... in this case, corals. I believe they reproduce in both fashions. IMO The color of the eggs suggests it be some type of coral spawn.
There's nowhere else I'ld rather be... unless, of course, you're buying
CR Member
Ok...well, that makes some sense in a way. When the alkalinity took a dive in our tank a while back and wiped out all the polyp extensions all over our big GSP rock, all that was left behind was the mat. It took about 2-3 weeks before the polyps grew back, but in the mean time we observed the mat go through many changes as it healed itself. It started off very grayish looking, but as the problems in the tank resolved and the GSP healed, it started to get a light shade of purple. Right before the polyps finally showed their grassy polyps, the mat turned a purple about the same color as the purple spheres in GT's pictures. The actually grassy part of the polyp takes even longer to turn green and fill in. I love this coral, and having it sort of "burn off" on us was an interesting and scary experience!
Have a Wonderful Day on the Reef!
:angel07:...Reef_Angel
Owner/Administrator
**If you have a need to phone me,
PM me and we can arrange for a chat!
~*Angels do a lot of things, but they will not take away your free will or the lessons you are here on earth to learn.*~
CR Member
The Cleaner Shrimp DID have eggs on her earlyier in the month but she hasnt had them for about 2-3 weeks now. I read that she will probably have deposited them somewhere in a crevice and they are more white. Since the pic has been taken, more of the shperes have appeared all over the coral, and with closer investigation i still dont know where they are coming from. I am gong to have to lean towards Repto's idea though....I think it IS coming from the poylps itself. I have not found anything on the net regarding this, but it is a reasonablle hypothesis as .i have seen documentaries on how gammets and stamin are released into the water for reproduction.....
I will keep an eye out and post any new changes.
Thanks for all the input.
GT
CR Member
Keep us posted...
There's nowhere else I'ld rather be... unless, of course, you're buying
Registered User
GSP reproduction.. i'v seen this a few time on our local board.
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150 started 8/12/06
57 gal started 8/12/08
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Really? Now that is just way cool... GT I think you have some once in a lifetim pics there.
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