Is this the Ugliest Coral You Know? - On an Indicator Coral

[Hans-Werner]

The short polyps that i have on mine…

I think maybe polyp size in the image above may look longer than it is. The longest polyps on the image are 4 or 5 mm (0.16 or 0.2 inch) long from base to tentacle tips.

Polyps may look quite different but I think it is all the same species. The genus Heliopora has two species, Heliopora coerulea and Heliopora hiberniana, the latter one having white skeletons and slender branches.

What may make the polyps look longer may be the density. As already mentioned, they grew much denser with improving conditions. Polyps may also vary in color from white to brown, depending from zooxanthellae density in the polyps. Polyps may become brown during longer periods of permanent expansion and white again after they are retracted for some time. White polyps look more beautiful to me why I photographed a colony which just has white polyps. What looks especially beautiful in fully extended and densely grown polyps is how they move in the flow.

In my experience it mainly are the trace elements which determine polyp size, expansion and polyp density. Iodine plays a role but much less dominant as in gorgonians and even Sarcophyton. It is more the trace metals and the ratios of the trace metals that determines the look and number of the polyps.

Phosphate may also have some influence.

Other parameters like pH, calcium, alkalinity etc. did vary little in our tanks.

Similar in this regard the leather corals of the genus Lobophytum seem to me. They also show fully expanded polyps only when conditions are very good.

 

[bnord]

I think maybe polyp size in the image above may look longer than it is. The longest polyps on the image are 4 or 5 mm (0.16 or 0.2 inch) long from base to tentacle tips.

Polyps may look quite different but I think it is all the same species. The genus Heliopora has two species, Heliopora coerulea and Heliopora hiberniana, the latter one having white skeletons and slender branches.

What may make the polyps look longer may be the density. As already mentioned, they grew much denser with improving conditions. Polyps may also vary in color from white to brown, depending from zooxanthellae density in the polyps. Polyps may become brown during longer periods of permanent expansion and white again after they are retracted for some time. White polyps look more beautiful to me why I photographed a colony which just has white polyps. What looks especially beautiful in fully extended and densely grown polyps is how they move in the flow.

In my experience it mainly are the trace elements which determine polyp size, expansion and polyp density. Iodine plays a role but much less dominant as in gorgonians and even Sarcophyton. It is more the trace metals and the ratios of the trace metals that determines the look and number of the polyps.

Phosphate may also have some influence.

Other parameters like pH, calcium, alkalinity etc. did vary little in our tanks.

Similar in this regard the leather corals of the genus Lobophytum seem to me. They also show fully expanded polyps only when conditions are very good.

Thanks for the follow up, yes and indeed this is the best picture that my iPhone can generate, smile at any rate it’s a really interesting coral and helps to create a diverse Aquascape.

 

[Apollomax]

At the image you see Heliopora in one of our experimental setups.

Some reefers regard Heliopora as the ugliest coral they know. I guess this is because it will never become a colorful coral, it always stays dark brown. And albeit showing interesting growth shapes it will never move in the flow but remain firm and sturdy like a Scleractinian but without the beautiful and regular structures of corallites. Frequently it is just a plain, dark brown "something".

But sometimes it may show its polyps with their pinnulate (feathered) tentacles. If the conditions are really fitting for it, it may do permanently so, or at least almost permanently.

This is why in my eyes Heliopora is one of the best indicator coral species, especially for beginners. It really is hard, nearly indestructible, and it will show its polyps only when conditions are favourable. It is an especially good indicator for trace elements/trace nutrients.

Nice to know since I’m still learning but to be honest it looks like mold under a telescope but will look for one as an indicator for good water chemistry.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

That a coral I would love to get my hands on. Not real common.

It used to be more common... I've been hunting for some for over a year now.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This is why in my eyes Heliopora is one of the best indicator coral species, especially for beginners. It really is hard, nearly indestructible, and it will show its polyps only when conditions are favourable. It is an especially good indicator for trace elements/trace nutrients.

Thanks, Hans Werner. Have you ever looked to correlate the poly effect with specific values by ICP?

You commented on iodine. What form of iodine were you dosing when you observed an effect?

 

[Hans-Werner]

Thanks, Hans Werner. Have you ever looked to correlate the poly effect with specific values by ICP?

You commented on iodine. What form of iodine were you dosing when you observed an effect?

In general we find < 1 (below detection limit) to 4 ppb Fe, 1 - 3 ppb manganese and 1 - 1.5 ppb nickel in systems where Heliopora looks best. Cu and Co are always below the detection limits in the water but we found very high copper concentrations (50 - 150 ppb) in skimmate. Copper has a high affinity to organic substances. Zinc seems to vary between < 0.5 to 14 ppb, but I am not sure whether it isn't an artifact because of wide swings from low to high and back.

In my experience it may be more important to have a certain "flow" of trace metals, especially the transition metals, than a fixed standing stock. There may be tanks, especially SPS systems, that consume trace metals rapidly down to below detection limits but temporal availability may be sufficient.

In my experience it is generally advantageous to dose more manganese than iron, ratio ca. 2 : 1. The effect is better general coral condition and less cyanobacteria and algae. Cyanobacteria and nuisance algae love iron.

The only form of iodine I am dosing is iodide. We found concentrations between 60 and 100 ppb in the recent past but had concentrations down to ca. 30 ppb before doubling the dosage. I have to do new analyses to see where we are right now.

Heliopora is not specifically sensitive to iodine concentrations and looked not too different, no matter whether iodine concentrations where high or low. Zooxanthellate gorgonians are much better indicators for iodine concentrations. They look and grow very much better at the higher concentrations than at the lower concentrations. Gorgonians showed bad polyp expansion and little or no growth at the lower iodine concentrations.

Other corals are somewhere in between Heliopora and gorgonians in visible sensitivity to iodine concentrations.

 

[Udest]

Blue ridge is one of my favorites almost near indestructible only thing that killed it was over exposure to peroxide , other than that grew like a weed in my tank.

so the only thing i found that could kill it was user error really.

 

[AydenLincoln]

My very first coral I got. It is a weird and unique coral that takes a very long time to put out polyps.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

In general we find < 1 (below detection limit) to 4 ppb Fe, 1 - 3 ppb manganese and 1 - 1.5 ppb nickel in systems where Heliopora looks best. Cu and Co are always below the detection limits in the water but we found very high copper concentrations (50 - 150 ppb) in skimmate. Copper has a high affinity to organic substances. Zinc seems to vary between < 0.5 to 14 ppb, but I am not sure whether it isn't an artifact because of wide swings from low to high and back.

In my experience it may be more important to have a certain "flow" of trace metals, especially the transition metals, than a fixed standing stock. There may be tanks, especially SPS systems, that consume trace metals rapidly down to below detection limits but temporal availability may be sufficient.

In my experience it is generally advantageous to dose more manganese than iron, ratio ca. 2 : 1. The effect is better general coral condition and less cyanobacteria and algae. Cyanobacteria and nuisance algae love iron.

The only form of iodine I am dosing is iodide. We found concentrations between 60 and 100 ppb in the recent past but had concentrations down to ca. 30 ppb before doubling the dosage. I have to do new analyses to see where we are right now.

Heliopora is not specifically sensitive to iodine concentrations and looked not too different, no matter whether iodine concentrations where high or low. Zooxanthellate gorgonians are much better indicators for iodine concentrations. They look and grow very much better at the higher concentrations than at the lower concentrations. Gorgonians showed bad polyp expansion and little or no growth at the lower iodine concentrations.

Other corals are somewhere in between Heliopora and gorgonians in visible sensitivity to iodine concentrations.

Thanks, Hans Werner.

That all makes good sense to me, especially the gorgonia sensitivity to iodine since it is one of the few organisms we keep with a scientifically demonstrated use for iodine.

 

[bandando]

Unfortunately in Italy it is rarely available.

 

[Mada]

At the image you see Heliopora in one of our experimental setups.

Some reefers regard Heliopora as the ugliest coral they know. I guess this is because it will never become a colorful coral, it always stays dark brown. And albeit showing interesting growth shapes it will never move in the flow but remain firm and sturdy like a Scleractinian but without the beautiful and regular structures of corallites. Frequently it is just a plain, dark brown "something".

But sometimes it may show its polyps with their pinnulate (feathered) tentacles. If the conditions are really fitting for it, it may do permanently so, or at least almost permanently.

This is why in my eyes Heliopora is one of the best indicator coral species, especially for beginners. It really is hard, nearly indestructible, and it will show its polyps only when conditions are favourable. It is an especially good indicator for trace elements/trace nutrients.

I had read in Daniel Knop's book (The Successful Reef Aquarium 1998) that the blue color of the Heliopora coerulea skeleton is due to iron salts but in the article Vincent Chalias it says that it is due to copper salts.
Maybe there was a lack of knowledge at that time or maybe that was inadvertently a wrong translation.
I would first think of copper because it turns green / blue when it oxidizes but I wonder what's up.
Do you know something more about it?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I had read in Daniel Knop's book (The Successful Reef Aquarium 1998) that the blue color of the Heliopora coerulea skeleton is due to iron salts but in the article Vincent Chalias it says that it is due to copper salts.
Maybe there was a lack of knowledge at that time or maybe that was inadvertently a wrong translation.
I would first think of copper because it turns green / blue when it oxidizes but I wonder what's up.
Do you know something more about it?

some iron forms are blue and it is very widely claimed that the color is from iron.

 

[Mada]

some iron forms are blue and it is very widely claimed that the color is from iron.

Thank you very much!

 

[Cthulukelele]

It's "ugly," but to me it looks like a lot of what you actually see on reefs. Interestingly shaped brown things

 

[Mada]

Does anyone know of an article or scientific publications that well describes the anatomy and the biology of the Heliopora coerulea?
I am very interested in the description of its polyps.
Are the thin hairs also polyps in addition to the normal polyps? And what are they for?
Wasn't it the case that one catches food particles and the other is used to defend itself (with stinging cells)?

 

[Udest]

as far as the iron thing goes I would believe its some type considering that some forms like forms like the one used in laundry bluing are blue , also neat thing about blue ridge is that it is a softy like organ pipe that also builds a skeleton.

 

[Hans-Werner]

Does anyone know of an article or scientific publications that well describes the anatomy and the biology of the Heliopora coerulea?
I am very interested in the description of its polyps.
Are the thin hairs also polyps in addition to the normal polyps? And what are they for?
Wasn't it the case that one catches food particles and the other is used to defend itself (with stinging cells)?

There is some confusion with the fire corals (Millepora) which are best known for their stinging upon touch. Fire corals belong to another Class in another Subphylum of Cnidaria than Octocorallia (leather- and softcorals, blue coral) and Hexacorallia (stony corals, anemones).

Fire corals have "hairs" (stinging polyps) and digesting feeding polyps.

The blue coral Heliopora belongs to the Class Octocorallia and it seems very difficult to find a good image of the anatomy of a Heliopora or even just an Octocorallia polyp. What is typical for the anatomy of Octocorallia is eight feathered (pinnulate) tentacles while Hexacorallia always have six or a manifold of six (12, 24, ...) +/- smooth tentacles without pinnules.

Except the protruding polyps the surface of Heliopora is very smooth. Maybe the pinnules of the tentacles may be perceived as "hairs".

The biology of Heliopora is similar to the biology of other zooxanthellate Octocorallia except that it has a calcareous skeleton made up from the calcium carbonate mineral aragonite, in contrast to leather and soft corals.

 

[fishguy242]

they make a nice temp frag rack...

 

[Mada]

There is some confusion with the fire corals (Millepora) which are best known for their stinging upon touch. Fire corals belong to another Class in another Subphylum of Cnidaria than Octocorallia (leather- and softcorals, blue coral) and Hexacorallia (stony corals, anemones).

Fire corals have "hairs" (stinging polyps) and digesting feeding polyps.

The blue coral Heliopora belongs to the Class Octocorallia and it seems very difficult to find a good image of the anatomy of a Heliopora or even just an Octocorallia polyp. What is typical for the anatomy of Octocorallia is eight feathered (pinnulate) tentacles while Hexacorallia always have six or a manifold of six (12, 24, ...) +/- smooth tentacles without pinnules.

Except the protruding polyps the surface of Heliopora is very smooth. Maybe the pinnules of the tentacles may be perceived as "hairs".

The biology of Heliopora is similar to the biology of other zooxanthellate Octocorallia except that it has a calcareous skeleton made up from the calcium carbonate mineral aragonite, in contrast to leather and soft corals.

Thank you very much!
I'm trying to find a foto (between the thousands in my phone) of an Heliopora that I had so I can show what I mean. I'll post it.

 

[Mada]

Here two photos from a different angle of the Heliopora I had. You can see the tiny hair among the other polyps.