purple hornet zoas

As you can see, this zoa sports a purple body with a distinctive yellow ring around the mouth and what appears to be a alternating purple and yellow skirt – definitely a gem in the industry.

So do you have these for trade or sale?  If so, please post in the comments section below.

purple hornet (actinics)

As you can see, these zoas look pretty amazing in actinics as well.  Thanks Jarrod for sending the pictures.

Similar to the Green Death, the Purple Death is another one of the large polyp death corals.  The colors on the Purple Death can vary depending on tank conditions but ideal colors for this coral is an electric purple which photograph well like the one above.

Like the PPE’s, Purple Death palys are currently in high demand and can be traded if you find zoa enthuiasts with this coral in their collection.  Please keep in mind these palys do slime when stressed and they are more toxic than most zoas – which says a lot.

The Joker’s paly is a polyp coral that contains a purple body and a green skirt. It’s very similar to the Purple People Eater (PPE) and have often been mistaken for it by newbies. However, while similar, it’s polyps are not as big as PPE’s and it lacks a neon green mouth.

I would guess that the Joker’s paly was not named because it looks like the Joker or that it has colors that are similar to a clown. It may have been named Joker’s because for many PPE hopefuls, this paly has played a cruel joke on them and shattering their dreams.

However, if you can look beyond the named zoas fad, this is a pretty cool morph seeing how deep purple morphs are not all that common except for a couple of morphs. You feeling the funny yet?

Despite it being one of the plainer morphs compared to some of the more recent discoveries, this giant polyp palythoa (or zoa) commands attention in private tanks and is often sought after by zoa collectors.

You can note its distinctive features by its size, the neon green skirts, the deep purple colored plate and its distinctive neon green mouth which is now grouped as the “People Eaters” feature.

The origin of PPE’s came from Blane Perun’s online store Farms of the Sea where he describes the PPE’s in more detail.

I obtained this colony by chance in or around 2001. In addition I have a matching zoanthids colony, as to where I believe this to be Palythoa or Protopalythoa. After about 1 year the specimen began coloring up and I sold off about 15 fragments for $25-$35 bucks each,ironically most of these people complained about the piece when they got it. The colony at that time still was not mature, not reaching it’s full beauty. The following year I sold propagation’s for about $40 bucks and people were outraged, So I stopped but soon saw them selling on ebay for about $200.

Although the original high listing price was set to help a charity, it inadvertently set the status for this morph and helped set the precedent for high prices for reefers who desperately wanted this paly. PPE’s slow growth also contributed to its inability to meet demand, thus continuing the high price points which are often found on the Internet for collectors who simply MUST own a frag of this morph.

So what are your thoughts on this matter? Is the PPE worth it?