I know this topic has been covered many times, but I wanted to share my thoughts on why I think the reef builders weeping willow is not unique and why I think it's fine to call the long polyp leather in your tank a weeping willow if you want to.
(Link to the video where Jake talks about the coral: )
For starters, I think coral "strains" and trade names are a little ridiculous, especially considering how most frags are clones of the mother colony, and not genetically different. In addition, corals can behave very differently and look very different depending on the conditions (flow, lighting, nutrients, etc) that they are being kept in. Therefore, I think the test to see if your toadstool is a weeping willow is useless. You could have an exact clone of the same coral in a different tank and it would fail the test. You could move a coral from one tank to another other and it would go from passing to failing the test. A great example of this is a frag of Jake's toadstool in Sanjay's tank that has shorter polyps seen in this video: (link to a blog with the willow "test": https://reefbuilders.com/2019/07/30/video-details-the-attributes-of-true-weeping-willow-leather/)
I am no expert in genetics, however, IMO separating coral varieties by genetics (either of an individual or a species) is the only legit way to do it since the coral's appearance is not consistent.
Jake claims that he knows everyone he has given a frag to and that they have not shared their frags. However, he says he got his frag from Daniel Montez who may have shared other frags with other people in the hobby. Who knows if Daniel shared other frags with other people that have made their way around the hobby? There might be 100's of tanks with genetically identical weeping willow toadstools.
I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this and see more pictures of weeping willow corals you have in your tanks! It is definitely one of my favorites.
I've also attached an image of the weeping willow toadstool I have in my tank and a picture of a frag I gave my brother. I think it looks pretty similar to the other "real" weeping willow images I've seen.
(Link to the video where Jake talks about the coral: )
For starters, I think coral "strains" and trade names are a little ridiculous, especially considering how most frags are clones of the mother colony, and not genetically different. In addition, corals can behave very differently and look very different depending on the conditions (flow, lighting, nutrients, etc) that they are being kept in. Therefore, I think the test to see if your toadstool is a weeping willow is useless. You could have an exact clone of the same coral in a different tank and it would fail the test. You could move a coral from one tank to another other and it would go from passing to failing the test. A great example of this is a frag of Jake's toadstool in Sanjay's tank that has shorter polyps seen in this video: (link to a blog with the willow "test": https://reefbuilders.com/2019/07/30/video-details-the-attributes-of-true-weeping-willow-leather/)
I am no expert in genetics, however, IMO separating coral varieties by genetics (either of an individual or a species) is the only legit way to do it since the coral's appearance is not consistent.
Jake claims that he knows everyone he has given a frag to and that they have not shared their frags. However, he says he got his frag from Daniel Montez who may have shared other frags with other people in the hobby. Who knows if Daniel shared other frags with other people that have made their way around the hobby? There might be 100's of tanks with genetically identical weeping willow toadstools.
I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this and see more pictures of weeping willow corals you have in your tanks! It is definitely one of my favorites.
I've also attached an image of the weeping willow toadstool I have in my tank and a picture of a frag I gave my brother. I think it looks pretty similar to the other "real" weeping willow images I've seen.