Monti or coralline?

[the reef kid]

I recently found a monti skeleton on one of my peices of live rock, and I noticed a few little purple/pink polyps that are still alive, but their color is similar to that of the coralline on the surrounding rocks. So, how do I tell if it is coralline, or if the polyps are alive?

 

[Bifferwine]

Do they appear to be filamentous (have little hairs) up close?

 

[the reef kid]

How big would the hairs be? It has hairs, but they're like 1 mm long. That sound right?

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah. Coral polyps look like small hairs, coralline is just flat and hard.

 

[JAG107]

could be a few coral polyps. only way to know is to wait and see if they spread and what they grow into.

 

[the reef kid]

Yeah, they spread, but so would coralline, which was what I was confused about. I'm pretty sure I scored a pretty good sized one too, if it completely grows back.

 

[mennazeher04]

any pics?

 

[the reef kid]

Not 'til I find my camera. It's sort of in the back, but once I do find my camera, I'll see what I can do.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

Here's a pic to show what the polyps on a monti will look like. They will differ as to what specific monti it is, but you'll get the idea.

 

[Nemo10]

could it be aptesia? just a thought..

 

[the reef kid]

Unless there is purple aiptasia, then I doubt that's what it is. It looks kinda like that Dave, but the hairs are much much smaller, almost as thin as a hair.