ricordia... this is an anenome, not a coral right?

[Anonymous]

I only ask because I keep seeing it referred to as both on different sites. Very confusing, because it sure looks and acts like an anenome to me. I just bought one on Monday, and today I have 2. It split in only 3 days. Not a bad deal for $5. Plus I felt I had to rescue it. The LFS had it in a tank by itself with NO lights at all.
So what's the deal with this, and why so much confusion on this animal?

 

[Anemone]

It's a corallimorph - kinda halfway between a coral and an anemone - which is why you see things referred to as "mushroom anemones" when they actually aren't anemones.

Kevin

 

[Garry thomas]

jason some times called a false coral :!:

 

[Anonymous]

This is why scientific names are so important. Common names can be really inaccurate.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, after a little research it's more clear. I didn't know that anenomies and corals were so closely related. They share the same class, but are in different orders. Ricordia, rhodactis, etc are in their own special orders, so they are not actually corals or anenomies but a separate kind of animal altogether in a way. thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

You got it.

 

[saltjunkie]

sometimes refered to as the "missing link" between corals and anenomes.......

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
In layman's term, "missing link" is a good way to describe it. However, this is misleading, and often used by creationist to ridicule people.

See the following cladograms for a good representation among the subgroups of coelenterates. For the second pic, althought not detailed enough to differentiate between octocoral(soft coral), hexacoral, and, regard the subject of this thread, subgroups of hexacoral (anemone, corallimorph, Zoanthidea and hard coral (both SPS and LPS)), it should give you an idea about what some /phylogenists think.

The first pic is a cladogram for the Anthozoa, and you can see how they are related to each other.

(Sorry for the ordering of the pics.... I expect FIFO, while RDO's PHP code is FILO...)

 

[saltjunkie]

well...........
that is a very detailed description..........
a lil too much for me actually........
but good useful information none the less!

 

[Anonymous]

Hey.they all look like Custom Condoms.....know what I mean? Could there be a scientific explanation?

 

[esmithiii]

Hey.they all look like Custom Condoms.....know what I mean?

LMAOROTF

 

[Palmetto]

Haha! Looks like gasstationus prophylactus.

:lol: 8O