Nanipora Kamurai是一种新的八角形物种，可能很小且不描述，但它位于一个非常特殊的地方软珊瑚tree of life. We are all taught that soft corals are by definition soft, and we know of two classic examples which break this rule, blue ridge coral and pipe organ coral.
正如我们昨天写的那样，有些reef-buildingSinularia皮革珊瑚还没有得到他们应该柔软的备忘录，显然，软珊瑚的另一个新成员也没有。您可能认为新的Nanipora Kamuraiis namedNani-Porafor the very small polyps that it has, and also for the very small tubes that it develops around them. But in fact it is so-named for the Japanese word “nani” meaning “what” as the researchers who studied it didn’t know what kind of coral they were dealing with. .
乍一看，您认为这种新的骨骼建筑八角形可能是某种原始管风琴珊瑚，但分子和遗传分析表明，该物种实际上与蓝岭珊瑚最密切相关。新的Nanipora被提议落入家族的Helioporidae，其中Blue RidgeHelioporawas the only living genus, andH. coerulea唯一的生物。
Strangely enough, more recently another fossil species of octocoral was included to Helioporacea，，，，奇怪epiphaxum micropora，共享与很小的息肉开口Nanipora。Other species ofEpiphaxumhave since been described from fossils, but back to the livingNaniporathat you might actually have living and growing in your tank right now!
How is it possible that this newly described and just-discovered species of stony-soft coral could be in your reef tank you say? WellNanipora在自然界是由定义非常,非常小的息肉e and it is borderline cryptic in its growth habits. Over three years ago Julian Sprung tipped us off to a very unusual and tiny octocoral that he discovered growing on a rock at one his local wholesalers.
这不是随机的岩石Nanipora正在增长，发现它之间的生长在绿色丁香息肉的茎之间和之间，每年都有数千人进口到水族馆，并在世界各地分发。几年前，我们前往这些特定的绿色息肉的来源克拉维亚and we discovered the unusual octocoral growing among and on the undersides of green clove polyps at a rate of about one in 50 rocks.
Since that initial search at the source, we’ve had our eye out for the then undescribedNaniporaand have seen it growing among green clove polyps for sales at several LFS and wholesalers. In recent years we’ve seen many more small-polyped creeping octocoral come in with various other corals, and some tiny polyped研讨会and blueish micro-“Anthelia” even offered for sale.
Most people wouldn’t even think twice about some tiny hitchiker Octocoral growing in their tank, but if it retracts into a calcified tube, it’s likely that this coral that has just come under the spotlight from coral scientist has been growing in your home aquarium all along. Take a closer look at what you’ve got growing among your corals and live rock, because that tiny little critter that you’ve noticed but never really paid attention to could turn out to be the next new coral discovery.
