Kenya trees
| Kenya trees | ||||||||||
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Kenya trees ( Capnella sp. ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Capnella | ||||||||||
| Gray , 1869 |
The Kenya trees ( Capnella ) are soft corals (Alcyonacea) from the coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific .
features
Like all corals, they are animal colonies made up of many individual polyps . They grow branched like trees. Like all of the Octocorallia subclass, the single polyp has eight feathered tentacles, and the gastric space is divided into eight chambers by eight longitudinal walls (mesenteries). The polyps sit at the ends of the "branches" and cannot be pulled back into the trunk (coenenchyma). Kenya saplings are light brown to green in color. Like all soft corals, they do not have a solid calcareous skeleton, but rather have small, prickly calcareous needles ( sclerite ) densely distributed throughout the body as strengthening elements . When Kenya trees contract, they feel very rough because the sclerites push through the skin. They live in an endosymbiosis with unicellular, symbiotic algae ( zooxanthellae ), which supply the corals with nutrients.
Multiplication
Kenya trees have an asexual form of reproduction, in which a branch is tied off as a daughter colony, is pumped full of water and drifted through the water until a suitable hard ground has been found for the settlement. They also reproduce sexually by releasing sperm and egg cells into the open water.
Aquarium keeping
Kenya trees can be kept in marine aquariums and are easier to keep for beginners than hard corals . They multiply quickly and can form large populations. You can also artificially multiply them by cutting off a branch with scissors and attaching it to a stone. It will grow quickly. Since they are mainly exported from the East African coast, they got their German name.
literature
- Svein A. Fosså / Alf Jacob Nilsen: Coral reef aquarium. Volume 4, Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag, Bornheim, ISBN 3-928819-05-4 .
