Can you identify these?

Hi all! I could use some help...I have a picture I took on a recent trip to Barbados, and I'll be darned if I can figure out what the subject matter is! They were inside a large barrel sponge. At first I thought they were some kind of eggs, but after looking at them when I got topside I'm not so sure...I've included a picture of them close up as well as from the top of the barrel sponge.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Can you upload some larger images? These are way too small to get any decent detail!

Can you upload some larger images? These are way too small to get any decent detail!

Sure...since this is my first post I wasn't sure how large I could make them...Will upload them now.

Sure...since this is my first post I wasn't sure how large I could make them...Will upload them now.

Looks like Coral to me .. not the most helpfull

Guessing I would say a type of Golf Ball or Pin Cushion Coral.

but i am normally wrong !

Thanks for putting up the enlargements. it's a colony of octocorals. I wonder if it's Asterospicularia or something similar?

See

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/reefs/guamimg/oct...ges/Image8.html

http://research.calacademy.org/research/iz...ospicularia.htm

http://mangilao.uog.edu/up/micronesica/indexes/cnidaria.htm

http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/bis/corals.php?sel...icularia#

(click on name for picture)

Thanks for putting up the enlargements. it's a colony of octocorals. I wonder if it's Asterospicularia or something similar?

See

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/reefs/guamimg/oct...ges/Image8.html

http://research.calacademy.org/research/iz...ospicularia.htm

http://mangilao.uog.edu/up/micronesica/indexes/cnidaria.htm

http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/bis/corals.php?sel...icularia#

(click on name for picture)

Thanks, Leslie. I didn't see those in my books on the Caribbean...

Out of interest, how come it is really hard to find good examples of caribbean Octocorals ? I notice all of your links Leslie were examples of indo or pacific types.

(interested as I had always assumed that these little bubble corals in sponges were hard corals not soft)

Out of interest, how come it is really hard to find good examples of caribbean Octocorals ? I notice all of your links Leslie were examples of indo or pacific types.

 

(interested as I had always assumed that these little bubble corals in sponges were hard corals not soft)

Whoops, read the post too fast & didn't notice they were from the Carib....... ....... so obviously not Asterospicularia which is restricted to the IP! Sorry..... It's clearly a cnidarian because of the individual polyps. Giles - I found it hard to count the number of rays on the individual polyps in the image; if it was 8 then it's an octocoral.

Whoops, read the post too fast & didn't notice they were from the Carib....... ....... so obviously not Asterospicularia which is restricted to the IP! Sorry..... It's clearly a cnidarian because of the individual polyps. Giles - I found it hard to count the number of rays on the individual polyps in the image; if it was 8 then it's an octocoral.

Thanks to you both. Leslie and Giles. I especially found them curious because of what looked to be a gelatinous substance on the far left...I appreciate you both giving me some help with these.

Boy was I wrong! I sent your image to another board composed of coral fanatics. It's a growth form of Porites porites or perhaps a "funky growth form" of Porites furcata. One poster said that he's often seen morphological changes in branching corals like this when they grow near sponges due to the increased currents produced by the sponges.

Thanks, Leslie for digging so deeply to find out what these are!

Boy was I wrong! I sent your image to another board composed of coral fanatics. It's a growth form of Porites porites or perhaps a "funky growth form" of Porites furcata. One poster said that he's often seen morphological changes in branching corals like this when they grow near sponges due to the increased currents produced by the sponges.

would that make it a type of parasite. it's obviously (to me anyway) not symbiotic, but it's not really a parasite as it is only using the extra current created by sponges. Is there another word for it.. merely taking advantage ?

Clever little corals !

would that make it a type of parasite. it's obviously (to me anyway) not symbiotic, but it's not really a parasite as it is only using the extra current created by sponges. Is there another word for it.. merely taking advantage ?

 

Clever little corals !

Some times the sponges grow around the corals... this finger coral is widespread in this part of the caribbean, however we had an awful lot die off during the last El Nino a few years back... one colony that was the size of a soccer pitch (honest!) died in the space of about a week... it was heartbreaking, although they are slowly returning.

I have some really nice macro shots of the same coral - if you are interested in seeing them let me know.

Some times the sponges grow around the corals...

would that make it a type of parasite. it's obviously (to me anyway) not symbiotic, but it's not really a parasite as it is only using the extra current created by sponges. Is there another word for it.. merely taking advantage ?

It would be called a commensal relationship as one party benefits and the other is largely unaffected. This would also be considered symbiosis in the wider sense of the term, which includes parasitism, mutualism and commensalism.

...it almost seems like some kind of intelligent design system; which is odd as i thought all the new items grew mostly out of where the currents took the eggs etc !

Nah, it is just the nature of evolution. Things happen by chance. Some things provide a benefit and so the change gets propagated. Some things are detrimental and so don't last long. Somethings provide no benefit or detriment and may or may not survive.

Whoops, read the post too fast & didn't notice they were from the Carib....... ....... so obviously not Asterospicularia which is restricted to the IP! Sorry..... It's clearly a cnidarian because of the individual polyps. Giles - I found it hard to count the number of rays on the individual polyps in the image; if it was 8 then it's an octocoral.

Leslie, http://picasaweb.google.com/Indigodive/MyP...316567872625378 is a macro shot of the same coral - not an octocoral .... from my experience I would agree with your coral chums and say that this is Club Tip Finger coral - Porites porites

Thanks Kay! It's sure easy to count the number of tentacles in your shot. This is a good example of why I usually leave corals to William and others but if one of them doesn't chime in soon enough I can't resist looking for an id.