Branching, Encrusting, Brain????

shornik · Feb 23, 2015

I just purchased this and when I asked the LFS what it was they couldn't tell me. It looks like a brain coral, but its encrusting and branching. I did some homework and think it could be one of these:

Favites monticularis
Australogyra zelli or
Favites Companata

but thought I'd ask the larger community to see if you knew. Here are some pics. In some I think you can see some pretty significant sweeper's which definitely were not present at the LFS but I have my flow up pretty high.

hmm sideways I don't know why....

close up of encrusting base (again sideways, whats going on) I guess just turn your neck on the side to get the best idea of what this looks like :squigglemouth:

close up of top which is more branching or columnar.

Shep · Feb 23, 2015

I have no idea but its awesome looking. Lets see if we can't find you an answer.

#reefsquad

zesty · Feb 23, 2015

Horn Coral, Fluorescent

Hydnophora?

It doesn't look quite as fuzzy as a Hydno usually does...

Finnaddict · Feb 23, 2015

I think you identified it yourself. I cant think of anything else it would be.

shornik · Feb 23, 2015

Yeah I don't see any "fuzzy" no tentacles except for sweepers and the pics of the Hydno's I just looked at for the most part don't seem to have the maze like structure of this one, though perhaps this one does....

Hydnophora exesa

zesty · Feb 23, 2015

shornik said:
Yeah I don't see any "fuzzy" no tentacles except for sweepers and the pics of the Hydno's I just looked at for the most part don't seem to have the maze like structure of this one, though perhaps this one does....

Hydnophora exesa

I agree with you. Even looking at different pics of the "exesa" I'm still not convinced it's a hydno.

kacrocorals581 · Feb 23, 2015

that is a merulina ampliata coral

shornik · Feb 23, 2015

kacrocorals581 said:
that is a merulina ampliata coral

That may be a winner....

kacrocorals581 · Feb 23, 2015

shornik said:
That may be a winner....

tyty I've read my share of coral books over the yr they are quite aggressive and have very long sweepers so make sure you don't have any corals close to it

shornik · Feb 23, 2015

kacrocorals581 said:
tyty I've read my share of coral books over the yr they are quite aggressive and have very long sweepers so make sure you don't have any corals close to it

It's in the front of my rank now away from anything. In the LFS they must have not had enough flow do no sweepers but as soon as I put it in my tank I saw them. Now I'll have to figure out a safe place for it. Thanks again for the help.

kacrocorals581 · Feb 23, 2015

glad I could help

zesty · Feb 23, 2015

Nice! Thanks for the help kacro!

bairdimusprime · Feb 24, 2015

no clue what it is but i love it

hart24601 · Feb 25, 2015

I have a large merulina for quite a while, here is what I have noticed about mine - it likes very low light or it bleaches, it really hates any detritus or anything else that falls on it, and finally as you have noticed there are crazy sweepers. Nothing I have has sweepers like it does, and the coral is really thin, I don't know where they all come from! I will try to get a pic tonight.

hart24601 · Feb 25, 2015

I will try and get a photo with a flashlight to see the sweepers later. Amazing what it looks like with a UV flashlight at night, the entire thing is blinding green florescence.

shornik · Feb 26, 2015

hart24601 said:
I have a large merulina for quite a while, here is what I have noticed about mine - it likes very low light or it bleaches, it really hates any detritus or anything else that falls on it, and finally as you have noticed there are crazy sweepers. Nothing I have has sweepers like it does, and the coral is really thin, I don't know where they all come from! I will try to get a pic tonight.

I was wondering exactly where to put this so thank you very much for posting this. I'm always amazed about the knowledge of R2R's and their willingness to share! Thanks again. BTW, your merulina looks great!

hart24601 · Feb 26, 2015

Here are a couple of shots at night with UV flashlight direct and indirect. It's like a neon bulb when you shine on it. It does seem like there are lots of varieties of this coral, so I don't know if yours will act like mine, but glad you found the info useful! It really gets a lot of attention when people look at the tank.