Need help with a coral ID please!

D

Darquegryn

Reefing newb
We picked this little frag up about a week ago. The person who sold it wasn't quite sure...thought it was a Favite, but it really doesn't look like one to us.

If someone can help ID this, it would be great! I really like the look of it, and want to give it the proper care.

It is encrusting, and has stony protrusions, around which their are pale bluish polyps.
The stony bits are a nice deep purple.

IMG_0210.JPG
 
chichimom79 said:
It looks a little like a hydnophora but the polyps are a little different. Very pretty!
Click to expand...

Hi there... I have a hydnophora, and it looks very different from this.

The hydnophora is green and branchy...the polyps give the whole thing a fuzzy appearance. The shape of the Hydno is kind of like antlers... this is flat...looks like an encrustation of a sort.
 
There is an encrusting hydnophora, which is the variety that I have. This may be something completely different. Just a guess.
 
*nod* been trying to research that direction (Hydnophora). I still haven't found anything quite like what I have. Perhaps its just an unusual variety. I may have to go back to my supplier when he is in and as him to check his invoice from the shipment.

Thanks for some direction though!
 
Hiya Biff :) I was beginning to lean that way myself.
Here is another picture with my Hawkfish photo-bombing it

coral.jpg


The fish ought to give you some sense of scale at least. :) The Polyps are a ring around a stony protrusion. No nice little flower middles like on a Zoa.

Thanks for taking a look and responding!
 
This looks very similar to a coral I had a couple years ago that I still never got a good id on.
 
Okay, I don't think it's a galaxea, because with a galaxea, the polyps are evenly distributed -- like a carpet. It's weird! I don't know what it is!
 
Yea, I thought I had a pic of the skeleton but I can't find it. When it closed up it looked exactly like the OPs pic.
 
At first glance I thought it was galaxea too, but that picture seems to show the polyps only have one row of aligned tentacles.
All the galaxeas I have seem have a starburst pattern where the tentacles are spread all over the top of the polyp.
It almost looks like some type of brain coral with long tentacles.
 
Nice mushroom there! But mine is more of an encrustation... guess I still have a mystery on my hands.

We called the guy who owns the shop we bought it from and mailed him a pic. He says leptastrea ... but pictures of that show the opposite habit, polyps around a crater, not polyps around a protrusion...

Leptastrea coral videos, photos and facts - Leptastrea aequalis - ARKive

Well hope it lives a long healthy life as I rather like it...whatever it is.

Nice to meet you all by the way :)
 
Had a few more people look at the mystery coral. It's still a mystery...:P How do you use Wet Web Media? I have only ever flipped through the pictures...but there are SO many of them! Is there a place to actually ask a question there?

I would try to contact the NY Aquarium, but that got pretty blasted by Sandy :( (That was pretty sad)
 
Yes, you send WWM an email with your question, and attach some pictures. There should be a contact address on the site. In my experience, they respond very quickly -- within a few days. The guys on that site are experts. They can answer questions that stump everyone else.
 

Similar threads

MikeYG1345
Help ID these Zoas please
Replies
3
Views
2K
MikeYG1345
MikeYG1345
J
Help ID Please
Replies
4
Views
855
MitchReef
MitchReef
Jrw013
Needing Help with a coral frag
Replies
10
Views
1K
AnthonyTheNewbie
AnthonyTheNewbie
FishyReef
new coral pick ups
Replies
3
Views
1K
dixiegirl21191
dixiegirl21191
Civicdemon
JuSt SomE PiCs
Replies
4
Views
2K
Civicdemon
Civicdemon
Back
Top