[saltwaterdave]

I have been wanting to ask this for quite some time.But after talking to a local reefer with alot more experience than I have,he did'nt know either! So here we go!!! What does SPS and LPS stand for,I know SPS means corals like Acropora and you have soft corals and hard corals..but what makes one a soft coral and one a hard? I have some trumpet coral,and some xenia...which is which and why? Also I got what was told to me a Montipora Digitata,but after looking through Julian Sprung's book Corals a quick reference,I have my doubts Could you all post some picks of a M. Digitata for me?
Now I feel like I let my guard down and I am truly showing my stipudity so please don't be so hard on me
David

[Ninong]

SPS = Small-polyped scleractinian coral
LPS = Large-polyped scleractinian coral

Both SPS and LPS are hard corals -- hermatypic. That means they produce a calcareous reef-building framework. Soft corals (ahermatypic) do not produce a permanent calcareous reef-building framework. Soft corals are also called octocorals because their polyps have eight tentacles.

Montipora digitata: http://whelk.aims.gov.au/coralsearch...0pages/252.htm

Trumpet coral (Caulastrea echinulata) is an LPS coral: http://whelk.aims.gov.au/coralsearch...0pages/111.htm

Xenia is an octocoral (soft coral), just count the number of tentacles on each polyp = 8. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/xeniidarts.htm

[EMS503]

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought I knew what they meant, Now I know how wrong I was. Live and learn

[saltwaterdave]

Ok......since my trumpet corals have what I would call calcareous reef-building framework does that make it a hard coral?Even though the "heads" of it are soft? Can you see how confused I am here And what was sold to me as a Montipora digitata.......it is most certainly not!(I think) It appears to be a Cladocora arbuscula commonly called a Ivory Tube Coral,according to the Julian Sprung book,mine are a orange look to them alomst like the picture on page 88,I was sold this coral as a sps.Can you explain what scleractinian actuallys means to someone like me? Or maybe give me some reference for like sps for dummies???? I am still confused
David

[Ninong]

Yes, since your Trumpet Coral is an LPS coral, it is a hard coral. Think of the polyp part of the coral as the soft living part and the carbonate skeleton that the polyp secretes as the hard dead part that it leaves behind as it grows. This calcium carbonate skeleton is what builds up over time to create massive reef structures.

We make our own calcium based skeletons, too. We just don't do it continuously non-stop as long as we are alive like corals do. And we don't secrete our skeletons outside the soft parts of our living tissue like reef-building stony corals do.

[Ninong]

What "scleractinian" actually means:

Sclero is a prefix used before vowels meaning hard, from the Greek skleros hard and actinian is from the Greek aktin ray, which refers to it's radial form. So a scleractinian would be a hard actinian, as opposed to an anemone which would be a soft actinian. Skleros is also the root of the English word skeleton.

[saltwaterdave]

Thank you.that clears up alot of mf my confusion!!

[kevinpo]

A little more info from the Biologist (scientific) point of view there is no difference between SPS and LPS corals (besides the obvious size of their polyps). It is a name and description we reefers give to hard corals to differentiate between corals with large and small polyps

Here is a picture of my orange M. digitata (SPS) and C. furcata (candy cane or trumpet)

[saltwaterdave]

Tanks for the pics That digitata is sweet looking!!!!
David