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Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 10/12/2009 6:05:29 PM
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| Good day Ron, yesterday at our monthly club meeting part of our day was spent looking at various samples from our tanks under a microscope. We had a really good time. Anyway there was something in my sand bed sample that I didnt recognize. I looked at my sand bed several months ago when I got the micrscope and dont recall seeing these, and now there quite a few. In a very small sample ( a couple water droplets worth ) there were atleast half a dozen of them. They didnt appear to move, so I'm leaning towards a plant of some type. Sorry for the quality of the photo I dont yet have a way to take photos through the microscope, the picture was taken from a projected image on a wall. They are red as you can see in the photo, and have little nubs sticking off from them. I cant recall what the magnification was, but the sand grain in the photo is Southdown sand size, about sugar size. 
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- David -
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| Hi David, The item in question is a soft-coral spicule. They are made of calcium carbonate, and the shape and distribution of the tubercles, as well as the spicule in general, is characteristic of the particular octocorallian species. Red color could be characteristic of the spicules from a red gorgonian or a Dendronephthya. They are, of course, non-living and immobile. I suspect the movement was caused by water currents on the slide.
Cheers, Ron
"The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind. The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man." Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
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Thank you for the response, they didnt move while we examined them. For some reason I thought soft coral spicules were were smooth. The fact that it is likely a spicule from a red Gorgonian makes sense. I recently had some nutrient issues in my large display which was housing my red Gorgonian, and algae began developing on the branches a few branches began to suffer tissue loss so I moved it to the tank the sand sample was taken from until the algae issues pass.
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| Hi David, Spicules from sponges are generally smooth, but many octocorallian spicules look pretty much like what you imaged. Many similar ones are shown here on this POOR copy of page 933 of: Bayer, F. M. 1981. Key to the genera of octocorallia exclusive of pennatulacea. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 94:902-947. 
This is a standard reference but is fortunately well out-of-date and really wholly obsolete. Unfortunately, we have nothing to take its place... So at this point all of the taxonomists pretty much agree a soft coral is a soft coral is a soft coral, and in many groups that is about as precise as one can get.
Cheers, Ron
"The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind. The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man." Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
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