Have you ever wondered what is inside a zoanthid, dissecting time with SpaceGhost

[SpaceGhost]

Mohawk:

http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj550/MECOLLC/IN%20WALL%20TANK/F9604691-37FD-401D-84A5-06F990748D44.jpg (http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/MECOLLC/media/IN%20WALL%20TANK/F9604691-37FD-401D-84A5-06F990748D44.jpg.html)
I sliced it in half with a razor blade by slicing from the base up and out of the center of the oral disc.

Here you can see a closed polyp, see how it tucks it skirt under and downward. You can also see the cut sphincter muscle on the left and right.
http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj550/MECOLLC/IN%20WALL%20TANK/5E7D5390-FCBE-4F97-9675-4F906F8D1B63.jpg (http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/MECOLLC/media/IN%20WALL%20TANK/5E7D5390-FCBE-4F97-9675-4F906F8D1B63.jpg.html)

Into the belly:
http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj550/MECOLLC/IN%20WALL%20TANK/535D6C83-77A4-4C42-BE7B-CC0191741A92.jpg (http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/MECOLLC/media/IN%20WALL%20TANK/535D6C83-77A4-4C42-BE7B-CC0191741A92.jpg.html)


http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj550/MECOLLC/IN%20WALL%20TANK/65EF3AA0-080A-4365-95A3-88550253B29E.jpg (http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/MECOLLC/media/IN%20WALL%20TANK/65EF3AA0-080A-4365-95A3-88550253B29E.jpg.html)

http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj550/MECOLLC/IN%20WALL%20TANK/0B774650-80D8-4425-97F0-6B301AE4F59D.jpg (http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/MECOLLC/media/IN%20WALL%20TANK/0B774650-80D8-4425-97F0-6B301AE4F59D.jpg.html)


Can you spot these parts?
http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj550/MECOLLC/IN%20WALL%20TANK/31FDE3C1-C105-4FBE-8AA2-E64AC25F29D6.png (http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/MECOLLC/media/IN%20WALL%20TANK/31FDE3C1-C105-4FBE-8AA2-E64AC25F29D6.png.html)

Hope you learned something. I always wondered if the darker spots in the stalk observed from the exterior are food, but they appear to be mesentery.

Disclaimer: Will it heal? Maybe? This coral may or may not have been killed for your information and learning. This polyp was aquacultured in my laboratory. If you have a problem with me possibly killing coral, please keep it to yourself. I have aquacultured thousands of corals, greatly offsetting the amount of wild caught corals I have had the privilege of obtaining. The point of this is to learn something. Your efforts would be better spent educating a NEWB, the great killers of corals. The point of this is to learn something. Plus I think it is fun Stab, slice, observe.

SpaceGhost

[KirbyBTF]

As much as it pains me to see a mohawk be sliced open, I have always wondered what they look like inside. This was a great post, thanks!

[Mael]

does it not look like a bunch of baby zoas inside the big zoa?

I could never do that to my mowhawks, mostly since they are slow growers, but very educational.

[A. Grandis]

...
Hope you learned something. I always wondered if the darker spots in the stalk observed from the exterior are food, but they appear to be mesentery.

Disclaimer: Will it heal? Maybe? This coral may or may not have been killed for your information and learning. This polyp was aquacultured in my laboratory. If you have a problem with me possibly killing coral, please keep it to yourself. I have aquacultured thousands of corals, greatly offsetting the amount of wild caught corals I have had the privilege of obtaining. The point of this is to learn something. Your efforts would be better spent educating a NEWB, the great killers of corals. The point of this is to learn something. Plus I think it is fun Stab, slice, observe.

SpaceGhost

Gosh, you more rude than I am. LOL!!!!
I won't tell you what I think about killing corals, because it's yours anyway!
I don't really care!
But I wish the pictures would help us to actually learn something.
Next time please take better pictures!
Thanks for reproducing thousands of corals!
LOL!!!!
:wildone:

Grandis.

[SpaceGhost]

Oops, did not mean to be rude. I guess I was being defensive because my buddy was so against it. I have always enjoyed cutting up coral and gluing it to rocks, you just can't do that with fish. The polyp is still alive today, it might heal. The only problem I have with it is that I am now curious about what the inside of my other corals look like. If it lives, this,might be a practical way to determine what Zoanthids are eating. I want a dissecting microscope so bad.

[A. Grandis]

No worries! That happens very often... LOL!!!
I do a lot of that too! LOL!!
Sometimes people think I meant to be rude, but I didn't mean at all.
That's kinda normal! LOL!
Just one more of the drawbacks in forums like this.
:D

Grandis.

[tallball158]

Very cool man, thanks for sharing. I always look for your posts, you always have cool stuff! :)

[mywily]

Wow

[tallball158]

Did it recover, or did you end up losing it?

[Ludwigia73]

Space, you CAN do it with fish, it's just that they don't survive as well.

[savageAJC]

Uuggh! Couldn't you have done this to some random regular looking zoa! Lol love the pictures though, I would have never seen otherwise!