Do coral polyps in one colony share food/nutrients?

[betareef]

If one polyp in a colony of, say, acans, or duncans, catches some food, does it share the nutrients from the food, with the other polyps in the colony?

 

[JayM]

If one polyp in a colony of, say, acans, or duncans, catches some food, does it share the nutrients from the food, with the other polyps in the colony?

I hope someone has the answer. I’ve often wondered the same thing.

 

[VintageReefer]

I thought about this also and felt if they shared a mat they would share nutrients. But I have no proof and I have lost individual acan heads several times while others thrived

 

[encrustingacro]

Depends on if there is connecting flesh. On corals such as Cycloseris (mokai, wellsi, and explanulata), Dipsastraea, and Micromussa that do have a connecting coenosarc, nutrients will be shared between the polyps. On corals such as Fimbriaphyllia, Astraeosmilia, and (most) Lobophyllia where the coenosarc is not connected to each other, nutrients will not be shared between the polyps.

 

[betareef]

Depends on if there is connecting flesh. On corals such as Cycloseris (mokai, wellsi, and explanulata), Dipsastraea, and Micromussa that do have a connecting coenosarc, nutrients will be shared between the polyps. On corals such as Fimbriaphyllia, Astraeosmilia, and (most) Lobophyllia where the coenosarc is not connected to each other, nutrients will not be shared between the polyps.

This was my first assumption. So, duncans, for example, have multiple heads all joined by flesh at the bases, and so should share.

 

[encrustingacro]

This was my first assumption. So, duncans, for example, have multiple heads all joined by flesh at the bases, and so should share.

I forgot to mention that there are a few exceptions, Tubastrea being one of them. Duncanopsammia is distantly related to Tubastrea (they are in the same family--Dendrophylliidae), so they might not share nutrients. However, they are closely related to Turbinaria, which I would think shares nutrients with its neighboring polyps, so I don't know. The coenosarc of Duncans sometimes dies back at the base of large colonies, so the nutrients might not be shared with all the polyps. There is a second, plating species of Duncanopsammia. One would think plating corals' polyps share nutrients with each other; I don't know if that applies to this species and whether that means the same for regular Duncans.