Tuesday, March 25, 2008

This feather duster (tube worm) recently shed its crown. When that happens it will remain in its tube for a week to ten days. When it comes out the cirri are very short growing a little each day until they reach full size.

Many aquarists have been fooled into thinking the worm is dead.

This is the original aka mother colony of M. capricornis. The star polyps had to be cleared from under it as they were stinging the edge of the capricornis. Two frags were recently removed to other areas of this reef.

Just to the right of center is the Hynophora sp. This is one aggressive coral. The shells to the right of it are preventing it from getting at the Pocillopora. It was sending out sweeper tentacles and stinging the Pocillopora.
A future concern is the Hynophora getting to the other coral on the left.
A frag of the M. capricornis started much lower than the mother colony to see if it could adjust. It is showing growth; polyps are visible under magnification.