Help IDing Tiny Hitchhiker Frag... Elegance?

Kasrift · Dec 21, 2022

BranchingHammer said:
The mouths and flesh look like favites or platygyra to me, or another genus that used to be lumped in with favia until recently. Tentacles also point towards these genera.

Only reason I wouldn't say platygyra is because it does have distinct "heads" My platy is one solid piece. Same with Favites, they share a "wall" for their heads.

If we want to get specific, looks like a dipsastraea to me. https://reefbuilders.com/2019/03/25/dipsastraea-matthaii-is-the-cutest-little-favia/

BranchingHammer · Dec 21, 2022

Kasrift said:
Only reason I wouldn't say platygyra is because it does have distinct "heads" My platy is one solid piece. Same with Favites, they share a "wall" for their heads.

If we want to get specific, looks like a dipsastraea to me. https://reefbuilders.com/2019/03/25/dipsastraea-matthaii-is-the-cutest-little-favia/

I agree, dipsastraea could also be a possible candidate. I was looking at the continuity between polyps as can be seen in this image:

FlyinAg · Dec 21, 2022

Thanks yall! I think yall might be on to something!

encrustingacro · Dec 21, 2022

Kasrift said:
Only reason I wouldn't say platygyra is because it does have distinct "heads" My platy is one solid piece. Same with Favites, they share a "wall" for their heads.

If we want to get specific, looks like a dipsastraea to me. https://reefbuilders.com/2019/03/25/dipsastraea-matthaii-is-the-cutest-little-favia/

Favites do not always share thecal walls. Examples of this are the ex-Phymastrea species and F. Rotundata.

encrustingacro · Dec 21, 2022

This coral could be Dipsastraea, but I don’t think it is, as this coral looks sub-meandroid.

FlyinAg · Feb 11, 2023

Growing like a weed. Eats like a pig. Seems happier in higher light and flow than my "favia" and acan. It has growing significantly since I first got it. It was just a little hitch hiker on the zoa colony it came in on that I almost paid no attention to! Now it's one of my favorites lol.

Nano sapiens · Feb 12, 2023

FlyinAg said:
Growing like a weed. Eats like a pig. Seems happier in higher light and flow than my "favia" and acan. It has growing significantly since I first got it. It was just a little hitch hiker on the zoa colony it came in on that I almost paid no attention to! Now it's one of my favorites lol.

One of the joys of this hobby is finding an unknown corall and watching it grow up and turn into a mini-colony. I've had a few over the many years and it can be very challenging sometimes to get an ID (I still have one that I haven't been able to ID much beyond 'stony coral with Leptastrea sized polyps').