What's the definition of a colony?

[leoskee]

I often see people posting that they have frags for sale from their "mother colony". When they post pics of the "mother colony" they are usually nothing more than a frag that has encrusted a bit and grew a few branches or so.

I would like to know what other people consider to be a mother colony. Is there a certain size, shape, growth pattern, etc...?

 

[Deanos]

For what type of coral?

 

[ming]

I often see the same thing. People consider their 2" frag of an SPS a colony. I consider it a large frag. If it has a ton of branches, then I consider it a mini colony when its about the size of a tennis ball and a colony when its about the size of a large mango. These are just my rough estimates and depends on how the coral grows ofcourse

 

[fritz]

I agree with ming, for sps I consider a colony to be about the size of a softball. A tennis ball is a small colony.

I think I recently saw "The mother colony" used to describe 5 zoanthids attached to a piece of crushed coral. That made me laugh.

 

[Deanos]

To some, a colony is any-sized coral capable of producing a healthy frag. Therefore, 2 zoanthids would be considered a colony.

 

[Wes]

colony

noun
1. a body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties with their homeland; inhabitants remain nationals of their home state but are not literally under the home state's system of government; "the American colony in Paris"
2. a group of organisms of the same type living or growing together
3. one of the 13 British colonies that formed the original states of the United States
4. a place where a group of people with the same interest or occupation are concentrated; "a nudist colony"; "an artists' colony"
5. a geographical area politically controlled by a distant country
6. (microbiology) a group of organisms grown from a single parent cell

 

[yeahcheetah]

I'd say a colony is a group of organisms with the same genetic origin. The number can be varied from a few dozen to billion. But for a countable few, I wouldn't say they are a colony. Again, ppl may have different thresholds on a "countable" number, lol.

 

[reefman]

as Einstein states in theory of RELATIVITY.
all our corals are frags
the colonies r in the oceans.

 

[cali_reef]

I often see the same thing. People consider their 2" frag of an SPS a colony. I consider it a large frag.

That is a small frag... :lol2:

 

[jackson6745]

Cali once broke me a "frag" the size of a bonsai tree

 

[cali_reef]

Cali once broke me a "frag" the size of a bonsai tree

A very small bonsai tree