Coral Identification

[Gauge]

Sorry, I don't have a picture on this one just yet, but I will get one up here soon.

My wife picked up a small chunk of coral from our LFS for free (incredibly small) a couple days ago. She was hoping that it is a pulsing xenia, and they kind of look the part. However, they aren't really pulsing. If you look at them for a while you see them kind of close up every once in a while, but it doesn't quite look like they're pulsing... it looks like any other coral being scared by something. However, they do this when there is no apparent stimulus to scare them. Does this sound like the behavoir of a very small pulsing xenia?

I also had another difficult-to-explain question... the (potential) xenias did not come on a rock. They are just all part of a purple, rubbery substance. I don't know if that's just the coral with no rock or what. I've never seen such a thing. Hopefully I'll be able to post a picture tonight or tomorrow.

 

[reefrunner69]

Sounds like Green star polyps, they don't pulse, sorry

 

[Gauge]

I'm pretty sure they're not green star polyps... unless the ones I saw in the LFS were improperly labled. Star polyps, to my memory don't have rough edges on the "petals" like xenias do. AmI right? Cuz these have rough edges and in all other ways look exactly like the pulsing xenias we have seen... however, I know there are non-pulsing xenias of some kind that look pretty much the same as well... *shrug*... I'm a coral newbie.

 

[reefrunner69]

Here is a pic of my GSP, some GSP are not green to begin with some are very light flesh colored some are brown, as you can see from the pic, GSP polyps do have pinnules that extend from the tentacle on they polyp. Mine is not very pronounced, but in other species of GSP it is very pronounced

If yours aren't GSP, I'll need a pic, the only other things I can think of might be clove polyps or pipe organ, but the pipe organ has a hard skeleton and the clove polyps do not come from a purple rubbery mat.