Is this "true blue xenia"?

[t0mmy108]

below the blue is white pom pom. next to the blue is xenia elongata. the blue one doesn't seem to pulse. it will contract and open up but doesn't display the pulsing action like the other two xeniid

I saw a very similar one on atlantis' website...Is it the same thing?
http://www.atlantisaquarium.net/frags2.html
from their website

 

[Anonymous]

This is Cespitularia :

It looks like what you have is a Xenia sp.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

Looks more like a sohal tang to me! :wink:

Chip, how do we know that's not cespitularia in his pic?

 

[Anonymous]

It looks like what keeps getting sold to me as Waving Blue Anthellia.

 

[t0mmy108]

i saw one being sold on live aquaria in the diver's den section as blue anthelia. could they just be misidentifying it?

 

[t0mmy108]

This is Cespitularia :

It looks like what you have is a Xenia sp.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Maximus1]

Here is a pic of my Cespitularia from Atlantis.

 

[Anonymous]

That "blue xenia" looks like an Anthellia. I don't think Anthellia has a real stalk like Xenia, so you can take a look.

 

[The_Big_Fish]

It's xenia. See the anthellia in the lower right of the 1st pic he posted?

 

[Fragguy]

Tommy108,

Could you take a picture of it closed up so that we can see if it has a stalk. If it does then it's Xenia or Heteroxinia and not Anthelia.

I recently found a Xenia with similar color but seemingly more intense blue than your picture and have been trying to find information on it. Mine is a true pulser which seems to differ from yours also.

I also took a similar picture as yours with other Xenia to show the color difference.

Rafael

 

[Anonymous]

Gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Fragguy]

Thank You Crissy.

 

[Tropic]

looks like sansibia....in fact im positive. good luck keeping the color

check alderslade/fabricius octocorals of the world

 

[Fragguy]

I have to admitt that I'm starting to get very frustrated with trying to id this coral. I was pretty sure that sansibia was more like anthelia which does not have a stalk but instead encrusts low on the rocks and each polyp comes off of the encrusted mat. But this page shows both forms (Stalked types and none.)
http://www.poppe-images.com/expedition/ ... %20species

The coral that I have has the very typical form of X. umbellata but does look a little like the second image in the link above.

Also, my xenia pulses very well which I believe is not true of sansibia.

Here is a picture of my coral that shows the thick stalk base with all the polyps on top.

Thanks.

Rafae

 

[Tropic]

Fragguy, yours looks diff. then tommys. What he has looks exactly like sansibia according to Alderslade and Fabricious. I followed your links, and those pics looks different then Alderslades. As far as i know, he is the authority in nomenclature of octocorals.

The sansibia i am familiar with, is blue, has long elongated stalks and always darkens up in captivity. It comes out of Indonesia, it is a common export, and ends up in retail stores in Houston quite often which is where i assume Tommy purchased his coral.

Thats all i can add

 

[Fragguy]

Thanks Tropic,

Although sansibia and anthelia are said to be difficult to tell apart, I believe that most of what is commonly called blue xenia is a brown anthelia with grayish blue highlights on the polyps. It too is very common in LFS in my area. This is different than the coral that I have.

This is what anthelia looks like. No thick stalk with a head of polyps on top.

http://www.zoon.lt/galerija/anthelia_diena.jpg

Rafael

 

[Justin74]

The "blue xenia" Cespitularia that Atlantis sells doesnt pulse , plus a healthy stalk has a very sparkly multicolor shimmer to it.

-Justin

 

[Justin74]

Heres a helpfull link:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004- ... /index.php

-Justin

 

[Maximus1]

Here's an updated pic of my colony of cespitularia:

 

[Adam1]

Rafael and all,

Yours looks like Xenia or possibly Heteroxenia that hasn't yet developed siphonozoids. Heteroxenia is also reported to be non-branching, although colonies can split wich makes them temporarily appear to be branching.

I also agree that the bluish coral in the first pic is almost certainly Anthelia or Sansibia. According to the info Fabricius and Alderslade, a "quick and dirty" way to tell them apart is to look for visible sclerites in Sansibia. I have found that the Sclerites in sanisiba are often pretty obvious in flash photographs.

HTH

Adam