Coral Id?

[-_- ZM]

Can anyone help me ID this coral?

 

[kevgib67]

You’ll need to take a picture under white lights if you want an id.

 

[-_- ZM]

 

[Wasabiroot]

This is a tough one. Galaxea vibes, Echinophyllia vibes, etc....I can see skeleton in the bottom right. Are you able to zoom in a bit closer and possibly shine a flashlight on it? The skeleton and visible septa will help, but the polyps in the first pic look so familiar...
@encrustingacro sorry I keep dragging you into these...what are your thoughts

 

[blaxsun]

It's definitely not a soft coral. I think galaxea is probably the closest at this point.

 

[encrustingacro]

I'm honestly not sure. Could you take a top down image of the coral? Judging by the skeleton, it doesn't look like a Galaxea, but possibly some sort of merulinid.

 

[-_- ZM]

Thanks for your help. Here are some top down images. Could it possibly be Cyphastrea?

 

[Wasabiroot]

I think @encrustingacro may be on to something regarding their Merulinidae comment. I'm leaning towards Astrea (Astrea annuligera, Astrea curta, etc) but could also be Montastrea or even another. What we really need is a close up, well lit shot that includes skeleton (being able to count the visible septa will help a great deal since there is considerable variation in this family) and that has as much white color to it as possible. Whatever it is, it's uncommon in the hobby. How'd you get it?

 

[-_- ZM]

I think @encrustingacro may be on to something regarding their Merulinidae comment. I'm leaning towards Astrea (Astrea annuligera, Astrea curta, etc) but could also be Montastrea or even another. What we really need is a close up, well lit shot that includes skeleton (being able to count the visible septa will help a great deal since there is considerable variation in this family) and that has as much white color to it as possible. Whatever it is, it's uncommon in the hobby. How'd you get it?

I can get some pictures later today. My mom picked it up from my lfs. She was told something that started with an s or a c but im not sure what.

 

[hexcolor reef]

Can anyone help me ID this coral?

It’s a Duncan coral colony

 

[encrustingacro]

It’s a Duncan coral colony

Definitely not duncan; D. axifuga are green and have larger, phaceloid corallites. D. axifuga also does not have visible septa when its polyps are closed and has a strong pourtales plan, which is not seen with the 3rd picture.
It wouldn't be D. peltata either, as that forms thick fronds.

 

[blaxsun]

It's definitely not a duncan or cyphastrea (don't we wish it were that easy...)

 

[encrustingacro]

I think @encrustingacro may be on to something regarding their Merulinidae comment. I'm leaning towards Astrea (Astrea annuligera, Astrea curta, etc) but could also be Montastrea or even another. What we really need is a close up, well lit shot that includes skeleton (being able to count the visible septa will help a great deal since there is considerable variation in this family) and that has as much white color to it as possible. Whatever it is, it's uncommon in the hobby. How'd you get it?

My identification as Merulinidae is tentative, as merulinid brain corals usually don't have polyps separate from their corallites when open, but extended tentacles instead. If it was a merulinid, the closest thing would be Favites valenciennesi, but I doubt it is, as F. valenciennesi has groove-and-tubercule structures instead of a coenosteum. It wouldn't be a Montastraea, as that is a west Atlantic endemic.
If it isn't a merulinid, which I doubt it is, my next best guess would be a Blastomussa, although there are problems with that ID, too. First of all, Blasomussa usually doesn't come in a gold color, and I don't see any vesicles on this coral. Secondly, this coral is plocoid, and the only plocoid Blastomussa species is B. omanensis; that species however, is a western/central Indian Ocean endemic (stony corals in the hobby are collected from the Andaman-west-Pacific), and B. omanensis is usually green.

 

[Wasabiroot]

My identification as Merulinidae is tentative, as merulinid brain corals usually don't have polyps separate from their corallites when open, but extended tentacles instead. If it was a merulinid, the closest thing would be Favites valenciennesi, but I doubt it is, as F. valenciennesi has groove-and-tubercule structures instead of a coenosteum. It wouldn't be a Montastraea, as that is a west Atlantic endemic.
If it isn't a merulinid, which I doubt it is, my next best guess would be a Blastomussa, although there are problems with that ID, too. First of all, Blasomussa usually doesn't come in a gold color, and I don't see any vesicles on this coral. Secondly, this coral is plocoid, and the only plocoid Blastomussa species is B. omanensis; that species however, is a western/central Indian Ocean endemic (stony corals in the hobby are collected from the Andaman-west-Pacific), and B. omanensis is usually green.

Awesome, thanks! It's certainly an oddity

 

[vetteguy53081]

It is star galaxea

 

[encrustingacro]

It is star galaxea

It's not a Galaxea. Galaxea are sub-phaceloid, while this coral is plocoid. Galaxea also have different tentacle morphologies; they have two sets of tentacles: one set on top of their septa and another o. The sides. Galaxea also has no visible oral disc, while this coral does.

 

[vetteguy53081]

It's not a Galaxea. Galaxea are sub-phaceloid, while this coral is plocoid. Galaxea also have different tentacle morphologies; they have two sets of tentacles: one set on top of their septa and another o. The sides. Galaxea also has no visible oral disc, while this coral does.

I dont see it being a blasto but I was on a phone screen. These blue pics are so hard. But Merulinidae sounds right
This is the pic I saw

 

[encrustingacro]

I dont see it being a blasto but I was on a phone screen. These blue pics are so hard. But Merulinidae sounds right
This is the pic I saw

I don't actually think it is a blasto; that was just my train of thought. I now don't think it's a merulinid anymore due to the puffy polyps rather than extended tentacles when open. I honestly don't know what it is.

 

[hexcolor reef]

If it’s not a Duncan I think it’s a “black sun coral”

 

[-_- ZM]

Thanks for yalls input im back in school now so I dont have time to research it anymore but for now its growing good in the tank so maybe ill be able to update this post with some new pictures in the future.