Who Gives A Fish Forums

Here's a rewritten post in the same style as the user:

I've been trying to find some clarification on the basic biology of corals. It seems that in the case of the Goniopora below then each waving tentacle and flower head is a single animal polyp. I'm guessing that in the case of the Pectinia or Catalaphyllia, the white Sarcophyton is one animal/polyp per white flower spot.

I'm also thinking the Ctenactis which has one mouth but appears to have many emergent tongues - one animal or many.

A bit of education would be greatly appreciated.

Biology Question... I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this for me. I'm posting here, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm in the wrong place - is this the right forum for biology-related questions?

Your second and flintix9t pics are actually single animal corals, whereas the others appear to be colonies, and you're correct in assuming each 'flower' is a single animal within the colony.

A general Google search for info on coral colonies should yield plenty of useful information.

I'm always learning something new about these creatures - it's fascinating stuff.

When you're looking at a coral, the colony itself is essentially a single individual, made up of many connected clones - kind of like the branches on a tree. Each polyp within the colony is capable of forming a whole new colony under the right conditions - similar to how some trees can regrow from a broken limb.

For corals like Pectinia and Catalaphyllia, distinguishing one polyp from another can be a bit tricky, but basically each polyp has its own mouth, so that's how you can tell them apart.

Rewritten post:

Thanks for the help with coral biology. I was wondering about the difference between a colony and a single animal. A colony is a group of individual polyps, all connected and part of the same entity. Each polyp has its own mouth, so that's what distinguishes one polyp from another. It becomes a bit trickier than other corals where one begins and the other ends, since the polyps are not as well defined as in some other corals.

I was also thinking the white Sarcophyton is one animal/polyp per white flower spot...? The one I find most intriguing is the Ctenactis which has one mouth but appears to have many emergent tongues... one animal or many..?

If you do a general google search for info about coral colonies you'll find tons of useful info. I'm always learning something new about these creatures lol