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Wallace’s Flying Frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus) – photo by George Sly
George’s description states that: “…I took that one many moons ago during my Peace Corps days in Peninsular Malaysia. I still think it’s the most beautiful frog species I’ve ever seen.”
Malayan Horned Frog (Megophrys nasuta) by George Sly
This is another frog species encountered during my sojourn in Malaysia. A great example of protective resemblance.
Xenia sp. soft coral by Kirk A. Janowiak
Xenia is a soft coral that sweeps and grabs the water, more or less constantly. In some circles, it is known as the “palaver coral.”
Dendronephtyon coral by Kirk A. Janowiak
The Dendronephytons are deep water coral from the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, & South Pacific. It feeds on the smallest of plankton. Rather than have a hard calcium carbonate skeleton as hard coral, it is reinforced with calcite spicules, somwhat in the manner of a sponge – thus being midway between the soft corals and hard corals.
Convolutriloba macropyga (photosynthetic flatworm) by Kirk A. Janowiak
Convolutriloba macropyga is a platyhelminthes – flatworm – that commonly hitchhikes its way into reef aquaria. They are photosynthetic and prolific. The snail eggs in the photo belong to a species of Nessarius snails. A cute little fellow that burrows by day, using a snorkel to keep water flowing over its gills, and comes out at night to feed and breed.
Trachyphyllia geoffroyi (Open Brain Coral) by Kirk A. Janowiak
These organisms are commonly known as “open brain corals.” They are small colonies of several animals joined by common tissue, but each member with a separate “mouth.” You can see two mouth openings in the photo. They have photosynthetic algae in their soft tissue so they can obtain energy from their symbiotic hitch-hikers when the light is sufficient. You might notice the bright, fluorescent green areas that protect the coral from UV radiation, should it happens to be sitting in a shallow area under intense sunlight.
They can also eat, stinging and holding their prey with sticky, cnidaria-laden tentacles. (Tentacles are not visible in the photo.) Considering the apparent small size of the openings, they can grab and ingest sizeable chunks of food, such as mysid shrimp or even small fish.
I agree, George. A beautiful frog, indeed!
Not sure if this is actually being mailed to Kirk J., but I was wondering how the Convolutriloba macropyga in the shot with the snail eggs was identified. The species is rather new, and I periodically search “convolutriloba” images on the web to try and get a rough guestimate of how many of the populations photographed out there are C. macropgya and not one of the other three species. Most folks label any and all convolutrilobids as C. retrogemma… yours was identified correctly… nice shot, too.
Cheers,
Tom
I have already written back to Tom Shannon about the flatowrm ID, and I will also admit here that I identified it through the help of Dr. Shannon’s site!
I got the genus on my own, but the species ID was a good educated decision (guess) based on his work!
Now I have to go back to my aquarium shop and see if I can find the other species, too!
Kirk