How are zoas named? And do variants have a different name?
 

To my understanding Zoa's are named by whoever discovers them. How are the different variants of the same ones named. Are the named the same or get a different name all together?

The reason I am asking is because on one of my colonies of zoas there is a group of them with a different colored mouth.

I am clueless as to weather they are a different stage of coloring or a different species or if it is normal. Ha ha ha

Here is the photo from the supplier.
http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9b72f4e3.jpg

Mine look just like them. But some on one side if the colony have bright green mouths and all the rest of the coloring of the polyps is the same.

It depends. Do you mean the common name like Purple Hornets or the actual scientific name like Zoanthus sociatus

The common name is simply that, given by whoever and differs depending on who you talk to.

The scientific name would be given depending on the characteristics and molecular breakdown of the zoa however they don't necessarily take color into consideration so you can have many many zoa colones of different colors all with the same scientific name.

The hardcore enthusiasts would have a different name for a Zoa that has a different colored mouth. I am an enthusiast, but nowhere near hardcore so I call my Zoas name by something similar I find and put "morph" after it. Like "Purple Hornet morph". I'm not sure if this is proper, but it gets my point across.

Also, if you discover you have a new morph not yet described, you can go to Coral Pedia and post pictures of it and name it yourself. Once it is posted on Coral Pedia it's like gospel. :lol: