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Gorgonian ID
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Ann_A View Drop Down
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Joined: August 18 2011
Location: Kaysville, UT
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    Posted: December 22 2013 at 5:46pm
I picked up a rather large purple gorgonian last night that is fairly healthy (will need a little more care than a fully healthy specimen for a while). It has dark brown/purple polyps, each of which have 8 tentacles. The polyps are about 1mm in diameter and the branches average about 6-7mm thick. It's not a fan shape colony, but more of a bushy shape with branches on multiple planes (not flat).

I'm thinking it could be plexaura flexuosa or pseudoplexaura flagellosa. I've also considered it might be guaiagorgia anas but that doesn't seem to fit as well as the others.

I'll upload some pics tonight. In the meantime, does anyone know where the majority of purple gorgonians in the trade nowadays come from?
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Points: 4166 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ReefdUp Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 22 2013 at 7:44pm
Ann, a while back I posted up about something similar...you may be able to search for purple gorgonian on here and find it. Most of the purple with brown poylp ones are photosynthetic.
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Ann_A View Drop Down
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Points: 2767 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ann_A Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 22 2013 at 11:37pm
Thanks Nikki, I looked it up but didn't find anything that matches this particular specimen.

Anyways, here are the photos (I know it's not in perfect health)


This one doesn't show color as well but does show the polyp and branch structure better than the other photos
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Adam Blundell View Drop Down
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I would have guessed Pseudoplexaura.

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Mark Peterson View Drop Down
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Points: 21436 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mark Peterson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 24 2013 at 6:36am
Aloha,

I believe these Gorgonia can still be collected by anyone freely from Florida waters - no restrictions. Here is the tank of a former member that used to make Florida collecting trips several times/year, bringing back some wonderful Gorgonia.




Edited by Mark Peterson - December 24 2013 at 6:40am
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