Frank Lipfert, Deutschland
Info
Colony Form
Small, bushy, with lateral branching, often in one or few planes, usually no more than 30 cm tall (maximum recorded 46 cm)
Axis black, branches, cylindrical to slightly compressed.
Recommendation - the coral should be kept in a species-specific tank.
Feeding
Gorgonians do not have zooxanthellae and do not live off light. Azooxanthellate gorgonians do not host symbiotic algae that produce nutrients and energy through photosynthesis.
The pumps should be switched off before feeding. In order for the gorgonian to survive in the aquarium, each individual polyp must be fed sufficiently, i.e. daily or 3-4 times a week. Without feeding, the gorgonian will not survive in the aquarium. The polyps need a certain amount of time to absorb the food (granules or dust food (Ultramarin, Cyclop Eeze) or frozen food (lobster eggs, mysis)). If shrimp and fish are present, they will try to steal the food, so it is essential to feed these cohabitants beforehand.
Newly introduced gorgonian sticks can be stimulated with a liquid food, e.g., PolypLab Polyp, to encourage the individual polyps to open. Only then can feeding be carried out.
The better the individual polyps take up the food provided, the better the growth and reproduction rates will be.
Azooxanthellate corals eat suspensions, marine snow, microplankton, and other organic matter, which is their natural food.
Stiff; terminal branches in particular flattened, to 6 mm across and up to 6 cm long; sometimes with small terminal branches arising laterally in irregularly pinnate pattern.
Apertures
Individual slit-like calices along narrow edges of blades.
Color: Yellow to green; occasional orange to purple; margins purple or with purple calices; polyps white to tan.
Sclerites
Polyp armature: small, blunt rods with few weak bumps or thorns, to 0.08 mm long. Body wall: stout spindles with few to many large simple to complex tubercles, to 0.16 mm long; scaphoids (curved sclerites) stout, compact, often with blunt ends, to 0.16 mm long; ornamentation of crowded complex, sometimes fused tubercles.
Habitat: Inshore, shallow areas from back reefs to patch reefs; 1-10 m depth.
Notes: In the other local species of Pterogorgia, Pterogorgia anceps, polyps arise from a common groove along the length of the blade.
Source: Interactive Identification Guide to South Florida Octocorals
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/octocoral_all/360/
Small, bushy, with lateral branching, often in one or few planes, usually no more than 30 cm tall (maximum recorded 46 cm)
Axis black, branches, cylindrical to slightly compressed.
Recommendation - the coral should be kept in a species-specific tank.
Feeding
Gorgonians do not have zooxanthellae and do not live off light. Azooxanthellate gorgonians do not host symbiotic algae that produce nutrients and energy through photosynthesis.
The pumps should be switched off before feeding. In order for the gorgonian to survive in the aquarium, each individual polyp must be fed sufficiently, i.e. daily or 3-4 times a week. Without feeding, the gorgonian will not survive in the aquarium. The polyps need a certain amount of time to absorb the food (granules or dust food (Ultramarin, Cyclop Eeze) or frozen food (lobster eggs, mysis)). If shrimp and fish are present, they will try to steal the food, so it is essential to feed these cohabitants beforehand.
Newly introduced gorgonian sticks can be stimulated with a liquid food, e.g., PolypLab Polyp, to encourage the individual polyps to open. Only then can feeding be carried out.
The better the individual polyps take up the food provided, the better the growth and reproduction rates will be.
Azooxanthellate corals eat suspensions, marine snow, microplankton, and other organic matter, which is their natural food.
Stiff; terminal branches in particular flattened, to 6 mm across and up to 6 cm long; sometimes with small terminal branches arising laterally in irregularly pinnate pattern.
Apertures
Individual slit-like calices along narrow edges of blades.
Color: Yellow to green; occasional orange to purple; margins purple or with purple calices; polyps white to tan.
Sclerites
Polyp armature: small, blunt rods with few weak bumps or thorns, to 0.08 mm long. Body wall: stout spindles with few to many large simple to complex tubercles, to 0.16 mm long; scaphoids (curved sclerites) stout, compact, often with blunt ends, to 0.16 mm long; ornamentation of crowded complex, sometimes fused tubercles.
Habitat: Inshore, shallow areas from back reefs to patch reefs; 1-10 m depth.
Notes: In the other local species of Pterogorgia, Pterogorgia anceps, polyps arise from a common groove along the length of the blade.
Source: Interactive Identification Guide to South Florida Octocorals
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/octocoral_all/360/
