Palythoa and Zoanthus

[mdvistnes]

can anyone out there tell me what the visible differences are between these the genus members are? I've been trying to figure it out from the books and it's not real clear. Maybe there aren't any real clear cut differences as they are in the same family? Does one look visibly different from the other all the time or not that different?

[dtpollard]

Here is my $.02 worth. Palythoa use sand grains to make up their mat. So with a high res. camera you can enlarge photo and look for the sand.
A lot of Zoanthus Gigantus and confused with Palythoa just because they are big polyps. These can be identified by their flor. green mouths, large polyps, and white striations around the closed polyps.
Just about anything that looks like the typical button ployps are palys.
I hope this was helpful.

[dkirchoff]

that helped, I have been wondering the same thing. thanks also.

[majormaz]

Cool. Never new that.

[mdvistnes]

I have noticed that some polyp colonies are small, closely spaced, with no neck, close to the rock. Others have larger polyps on stalks almost. Is there any way to classify them based on these characteristics or can they still belong to either genus?

[flyyyguy]

the vast majority of polyps sold and called "palys" arent palys at all. they are just large zoanthus. there are many other larger types besides just the zoanthus gigantus mentioned above with the tell tale green mouths and white lines down the closed polyps. a.k.a. people eaters

[dtpollard]

Yeah my Avatar was sold to me by liveaquarie as zoanthus gigantus but it does not have a green mouth or the striations. They get big for zoos but not like my RPE or Pink Dalmation PE that get bigger than a quarter. So I guess the sand is best tell tale sign.