Feeding LPS ?

[Eric_n_Ga]

On corals like Duncan, candy canes , favia do the heads share the nutrients amongst the entire colony or is each head self contained? For lack of a better word . Obviously the heads on top catch more food just wondering if feeding each head is important or beneficial?

 

[the_robo_fighter]

Following!

 

[Rainblood]

I think that if the heads are connected by "flesh" then everybody eats but if they are fully separated, then its individual

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

I think that if the heads are connected by "flesh" then everybody eats but if they are fully separated, then its individual

Makes sense

 

[jcook54]

I'm pretty sure it depends on the LPS. I've often wondered this myself and I use the branching euphyllia and elegance corals as my hypothetical examples. The branching euphyllia certainly consists of different individual heads where the elegance is more like one large polyp. Using these two as an example, it makes me think that each polyp stands alone. But then throw in the Duncan. Each polyp if on it's own BUT the entirety is still connected by flesh. In the end, I think Rainblood is correct and corals that still are connected by "flesh" are can share nutrients.

When we talk about "flesh" we're talking about the ceonosarc. Everything I've read indicates that the ceonosarc allows for signals and nutrient to pass among the different polyps and make it a truly colonial creature. Without this fleshy connection, each polyp is on it's own. Oddly enough I have a bright green candy cane that used to cause me a lot of concern. It will grow and grow, looking great, and then all of the sudden, the bottom flesh will start to strip away. It only does this once the heads have split and I guess they're ready to be one their own. It can be pretty dramatic and makes it look like the whole colony is going South because they do it all at once. You can see it in this picture pretty well. All of the fresh white skeleton used to be covered by flesh just a few days ago. I'd be freaking out but I've seen this happen a few times over the years.






https://science.jrank.org/pages/1786/Coral-Coral-Reef-Biology-corals.html
https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/coral-reefs-15786954/
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_corals/media/supp_coral01a.html

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

The Duncan was the main coral in question because I know the little heads are growing even though I'm not feeding them . So acans and favia would fall into this category as well.


@jcook54 I have a candy cane I got at my first ARC meeting. It does the same thing except it's covered in blue sponge , been like that for 2 yrs .