ZOA vs Paly

"The true difference between palys and zoas is much harder to distinguish. It is in the coenenchyme (or mat tissue); palythoa (protopalys included) take up sand and other small particles to build their structure (particularly noticable in the "stem" of the polyp or course texture of the oral disc). Zoanthids (such as those pictured above) do not."
 
William Lutman said:
"The true difference between palys and zoas is much harder to distinguish. It is in the coenenchyme (or mat tissue); palythoa (protopalys included) take up sand and other small particles to build their structure (particularly noticable in the "stem" of the polyp or course texture of the oral disc). Zoanthids (such as those pictured above) do not."
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I had read this before too. Once I did, I can see the difference. Zoas seem smooth and flowing in their mat, palys have a grainy look. This is why plastic plugs are bad for Paly's. They can get what they want from the minerals in the column, but I think they prefer access to sand/rock. Once I placed a paly on a plastic frag plug next to some rock they almost immediately (fast for a paly anyway) left the plug completely and started exploding on the rock. Only thing that makes sense is that it needed the rock to grow and was unhappy on the plastic plug. Isn't my scientific method so legit? (sarcastic)
 
Palys usually have more palytoxin levels also but that's kind of hard to distinguish yourself. I notice palys on average have a thicker more defined center line than zoas and their stems are gritty. Zoas tend to have stringier skirts and smooth stems with a more pronounced center eye.
 
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