Most impressive was the speed of the foot contorting itself to close in and form a complete cylinder once again. This is where the Mushroom first directed its energy. Once the foot closed its wound, the disk began tightening horizontally and constricting vertically to begin taking on the appearance on an arc instead of a flat disk. Almost immediately the half circle looked more like a small pie with a piece or two removed. I was surprised that the energy had not been directed towards closing off the intestines with the foot, it seems they would make good food for a small fish on the reef.

It appeared that much of the activity happened early on, and then things really began to slow down. This is where the process seemed to differ from other specimens I worked with (Rhodactis and Ricordia alike). I believe it is due to the fact that the disk is so rigid that the healing process is a combination of growth and closing of a wound. Where in the case of Discosoma, the mushroom seems to make noticeable forward progress each day and in contrast the animal

is uniformly soft and flexible. Once the polyp was about 75% closed I noticed the foot expanding from the bottom to meet the top of the disk and seal off the vulnerable intestine area. As I mentioned I was surprised that I had not seen the foot closing in from all sides to engulf this area. This could have something to do with the wall rigidity or not, but it may point to the reason all of the initial energy seemed to be directed toward the foot.

At this point the specimen was 90% closed; the outer walls had fused with the disk closing off the internals, the foot had engulfed the intestinal region for protection, with the exception of a portion of it was left exposed at the top of the disk. My guess is since there was not a functioning mouth apparatus; this Mushroom is forced to expose a section of the intestines for absorption feeding until a mouth could be formed. This is not something I had witnessed or at least paid much attention to with Ricordia Florida, Discosoma or Rhodactis mainly because the process takes place quicker and there is less time for observations.

About two months after this last photo I repeated the process cutting each of these polyps into two. The healing time and pattern was similar, but I think in retrospect it was very taxing on the coral and very unnatural. The process was very interesting and I had learned a lot from my observations. In the end there were four Hot Pink Ricordia Yumas where there had only been one!